THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


Library 

Institute  of  Industrial  Relations 

University  of  California 

Los  Angeles  24,  California 


STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 


SECOND  REPORT 


OF  THE 


FACTORY  INVESTIGATING  COMMISSION 


1913 


VOLUME  I 


TRANSMITTED  TO  THE  LEGISLATURE  JANUARY   15,    1913 


ALBANY 

J.  B.  LYON  COMPANY,  PRINTERS 
1913 


STATE  OF   NEW   YORK 


No.  36 


A/ 7 'AS 
VJ 
.  / 


IN     SENATK 


JANUARY  15,  1913 


SECOND  REPORT 


OF  THE 


•N 

New  York  State  Factory  Investigating  Commission 

r 


ABRAM  I.  ELKUS 

Chief  Counsel 


ROBERT  F.  WAGNER 

Chairman 

ALFRED  E.  SMITH 

Vice-  Chairman 

CHARLES  M.  HAMILTON 
EDWARD  D.  JACKSON 
CYRUS  W.  PHILLIPS 
SIMON  BRENTANO 
ROBERT  E.  DOWLING 
MARY  E.  DREIER 
SAMUEL  GOMPERS 


BERNARD  L.  SHIENTAG 

Assistant  Counsel 


FRANK  A.  TIERNEY 

Secretary 

160266 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  REPORT  * 


VOLUME  I 

PAGE. 

THE     COMMISSION.     ITS     CREATION,     ORGANIZATION,     AND     GENERAI 

WORK  .  .  .    '. 11-25 

Creation  and  Membership — Authority  and  Scope — Organization — 
Work  in  1911 — Work  Since  March,  1912 — Investigations — Pub- 
lic Hearings — Execiitive   Sessions — Issuance  of   Tentative  Bills — 
Special  Hearings — Assistance  Rendered — Policy  of  Commission 
— Summary  of  Contents. 

THE  LABOR  LAW  AND  ITS  ADMINISTRATION 26-52 

Importance  of  Labor  Department — Inadequacy  of  Factory  In- 
spection— Present  Labor  Law — Proposals  of  Change — Creation 
of  an  Industrial  Board — Proposed  Reorganization  of  Depart- 
ment of  Labor — Miscellaneous  Recommendations — Summary  of 
Report. 

THE  FIRE  PROBLEM 53-89 

Extent  of  Fire  Losses — Scope  of  Investigation — The -Fire  Problem 
in  New  York  City — In  Other  Cities — Recommendations — Fire 
Drills — Automatic  Sprinklers — Fire-Escapes  and  Exits — Re- 
quirements for  Existing  Buildings — For  New  Buildings — 
Posting — Filing  of  Plans — Detailed  Specifications. 

MANUFACTURING  IN  TENEMENTS 90-123 

Previous  Legislation  on  Homework — Sources  of  Information — 
Industries  in  Which  Homework  is  found — Sanitary  Conditions 
— Carelessness  of  Manufacturers — Child  Labor — Unrestricted 
.Hours  of  Labor  for  Women — Earnings — Economic  Status  of 
Homeworkers'  Families — Remedies  Variously  Advocated — Con- 
clusion. 

•The  minutes  of  the  testimony  taken  by  the  Commission  and  the  following  appendices 
to  the  Commission's  report  will  be  contained  In  subsequent  volumes. 

APPENDIX       II  —  Report  of  the  Director  of  Investigation,  by  Dr.   George  M.  Price. 

APPENDIX     III  —  The  Fire  Problem,  by  James  P.  Whiskeman,  C.  B. 

APPENDIX      IV  —  Manufacturing  In  Tenement  Houses,  by  Elizabeth  C.  Watson. 

APPENDIX       V  —  Conditions  in  Canneries,  by  Zenas  L.  Potter. 

APPENDIX     VI  —  Wood  Alcohol,  by  Prof.  Charles  Baskerville. 

APPENDIX   VII  —  Commercial  Acids,  by  Dr.  Chas.  F.  McKenna. 

APPENDIX  VIII  —  Lead  Poisoning,  by  Dr.   C.  T.  Graham  Rogers  and  John  H.  Vogt. 

APPENDIX     IX  —  Report  on  the  Employment  of  Women   and  Children   In   Mercantile 
Establishments,  by  Pauline  Goldmark  and  Geo.  A.  Hall. 

APPENDIX       X  —  Briefs  and  Memoranda  submitted  to  the  Commission. 


Q  CONTEXTS  OF  THE  REPORT. 

PAGE. 

THE  CANNERIES 124-175 

Canneries  Exempted  from  Factory  Law— Extent  of  Industry — In- 
vestigation of  Commission — Child  Labor — Summary  of  Con- 
clusions— Laws  in  Other  States — Recommendations — Women's 
Work  in  Canneries — Conditions  of  Labor — Varieties  of  Work — 
Essentially  Factory  Work — Hours  of  Labor— Overtime  Work, 
Its  Cause  and  Necessity — Summary  of  Conclusions — Summary 
of  Report — Recommendations. 

CHILD  LABOB 176-192 

Extent  of  Employment  of  Children — The  Present  Law — The 
Physical  Requirement — The  Educational  Requirement — Em- 
ployment Certificates  —  Physical  Examination  —  Occupations 
Dangerous  to  Health  and  Safety — Jurisdiction  for  Violation 
of  Law — Enforcement  of  Law — Continuation  Schools — Recom- 
mendations. 

NIGHT  WOBK  OF  WOMEN  IN  FACTORIES 193-215 

Danger  to  Health  from  Night  Work  and  Late  Overtime,  Evening 
Work — Danger  to  Morals — Law  Proposed — Its  Constitutionality 
— Need  of  Legal  Closing  and  Opening  Hours — Summary — 
Women's  Work  in  General — Time  Book — Hours  of  Labor. 


BAKEBIES 216-226 

Investigation — General  Conditions — Extent  of  Industry — Present 
Jurisdiction  Over  Bakeries — Proposed  Change — Sanitary  Certifi- 
cate— Physical  Examination  of  Bakers — Cellar  Bakeries — Pro- 
posed Prohibitions  —  Additional  Minimum  Requirements  — 
Sanitary  Code — Summary  of  Report. 

GENEBAL  SANITABY  CONDITIONS 227-234 

Investigation  of  Commission — General  Results — Unclean  Work- 
rooms— Light  and  Illumination — Ventilation — Washing  Facili- 
ties— ^Water-Closet  Accommodations — Dressing  Rooms. 

ACCIDENT  PBEVENTION 235-243 

Number  of  Accidents  in  Various  Industries — Changes  Proposed  in 
Existing  Law — Lighting — Industrial  Board  to  Make  Regula- 
tions— Elevators — Enforcement  of  Law — Education  of  Em- 
ployer and  Employee — Workmen's  Compensation  Law. 

DANGEROUS  TRADES 244-254 

Investigation  of  Commission — The  Chemical  Industry — Com- 
mercial Acids — Accidents — Lead  Poisoning,  Wood  Alcohol — 
Recommendations. 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  REPORT.  7 

PAGE. 

FOUNDRIES  AND  EMPLOYMENT  OF  WOMEN  IN  COBE  ROOMS 255-263 

Foundries — Heating  and  Prevention  of  Drafts — Proper  Ventilation 
— Measures  to  Prevent  Accidents — Washing  Facilities — Sanitary 
Provisions — Milling  and  Cleaning  of  Castings — Employment  of 
Women  in  Core  Booms — Foundry  No  Place  for  Women — Recom- 
mendations. 

EMPLOYMENT   OF    WOMEN    AND    CHILDREN    IN    MEBCANTILE    ESTAB- 
LISHMENTS    264-290 

Number  of  Stores — Conditions  and  Hours  of  Work — Wages — 
Five  and  Ten-Cent  Stores — The  Department  Stores — Summary 
of  Report — The  Mercantile  Law. 

MISCELLANEOUS 290 

CONCLUSION  .  290 


CONTEXTS  OF  THE  REPORT.  9 

APPENDIX  I 

PAGE. 

BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  THE  LEGISLATURE 298-395 

Reorganization  of  Labor  Department;   Industrial  Board 298 

Penalties  for  violation  of  Labor  Law  and  Industrial  Code 321 

Fireproof  receptacles;   gas  jets ;  smoking 322 

Fire-alarm  signal  systems  and  fire  drills 323 

Automatic  Sprinklers 325 

Fire-escapes   and   exits;   limitation   of   number   of   occupants;    con- 
struction of  future  factory  buildings 327 

Amendment  to  Greater  New  York  charter  (Fire  Prevention  Law)  ...  343 
Prohibition   of   employment  of   children   under    fourteen   in   cannery 
sheds  or  tenement  houses;  definition  of  factory  building;  definition 

of  tenement  house 345 

Manufacturing  in  tenements 348 

Hours  of  labor  of  women  in  canneries 356 

Housing   conditions   in   labor   camps   maintained   in    connection   with 

a  factory 358 

Physical  examination  of  children  employed  in  factories 359 

Amendments  to  child  labor  law;  physical  examination  before  issuance 
of  employment  certificate;  school  record;  supervision  over  issuance 

of  employment  certificates 360 

Amendment  to  compulsory  education  law;   school  record 365 

Night  work  of  women  in  factories 366 

Seats  for  women  in  factories 366 

Bakeries 367 

Cleanliness  of  workrooms 374 

Cleanliness  of  factory  buildings 375 

Ventilation;  general ;  special 376 

Washing  facilities;  dressing  rooms;   water  closets 378 

Accident  prevention ;   lighting  of  factories  and  workrooms 382 

Elevators 386 

Dangerous  trades 388 

Foundries 389 

Employment   of   children   in   dangerous  occupations;    employment   of 

women  in  core  rooms 391 

Labeling  of  containers  of  wood  alcohol 393 

Extension  of  jurisdiction  of  commission 394 


REPORT 

OF    THE 

NEW  YORK  STATE  FACTORY   INVESTIGATING 
COMMISSION 


To  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York: 

The  Commission  appointed  pursuant  to  chapter  561  of  the 
laws  of  1911  and  to  chapter  21  of  the  laws  of  1912,  to  inquire  into 
the  conditions  under  which  manufacturing  is  carried  on  through- 
out the  state  and  to  investigate  the  conditions  of  labor  in  mercan- 
tile establishments  generally,  hereby  submits  the  following 
report. 

THE  CKEATIOX  OF  THE  COMMMISSION 

This  Commission  owes  its  creation  to  the  demand  of  the  people 
for  an  investigation  of  the  conditions  of  labor  in  the  factories  of 
the  state.  The  public  had  been  profoundly  shocked  by  the  fire 
occurring  in  New  York  City  on  March  25,  1911,  in  the  factory 
of  the  Triangle  Waist  Company,  in  which  145  employees,  chiefly 
women  and  children,  lost  their  lives.  The  conviction  was  wide- 
spread that  so  appalling  a  disaster  must  have  been  due  to  condi- 
tions resulting  from  neglect.  In  full  conformity,  therefore,  with 
public  sentiment,  the  legislature  of  the  state  of  New  York  resolv- 
ing to  leave  nothing  undone  to  protect  the  lives  of  the  men,  women, 
and  children  working  within  its  bounds,  enacted  chapter  561  of 
the  laws  of  1911  creating  the  New  York  State  Factory  Investi- 
gating Commission. 

Pursuant  to  this  chapter  the  following  commission  was 
appointed : 

From  the  Senate : 

Robert  F.  Wagner 
Charles  M.  Hamilton. 


12  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

From  the  Assembly: 

Alfred  E.  Smith 

Edward  D.  Jackson 

Cyrus  W.  Phillips. 
By  the  Governor: 

Simon  Brentano 

Robert  E.  Dowling 

Mary  E.  Dreier 

Samuel  Gompers. 

THE  AUTHORITY  AND  SCOPE  OF  THE  COMMISSION 
The  Commission  was  authorized  by  the  legislature  to  inquire 
into  the  conditions  under  which  manufacturing  was  conducted. 
Its  authority  was  to  include  the  investigation  of  matters  affecting 
the  health  and  safety  of  the  operatives  and  the  security  of  the 
public,  to  the  end  that  remedial  legislation  might  be  enacted  to 
protect  from  danger  to  life  and  health,  all  workers  in  existing  or 
future  structures  used  or  to  be  used  for  manufacturing  purposes. 
It  was  further  empowered  to  compel  the  attendance  of  witnesses, 
the  production  of  books  and  papers,  and  to  appoint  counsel,  secre- 
tary, stenographers  and  necessary  assistants.  In  general  it  was 
to  have  the  regular  powers  of  a  legislative  committee.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  Commission  were  to  receive  no  compensation  for  their 
services,  but  were  to  be  reimbursed  for  necessary  expenses. 

The  scope  of  the  investigation,  as  outlined  in  the  act  creating 
the  Commission,  was  properly  very  broad ;  for  a  fire,  such  as  led 
immediately  to  the  creation  of  the  Commission,  is  fortunately  of 
rare  occurrence.  On  the  other  hand,  industrial  accidents,  poison- 
ings, and  diseases  maim  or  disable  in  the  state  and  nation  tens 
of  thousands  every  year.  Insufficient  ventilation,  bad  sanitation, 
and  long  hours  of  labor  also  work  their  deadly  effects.  Consider- 
ation of  these  and  other  constant  menaces  to  the  safety  and  health 
of  industrial  workers  determined  the  Commission  not  to  limit 
itself  merely  to  the  study  of  the  fire  hazard  in  factory  buildings, 
but  to  extend  its  activities  to  various  other  phases  of  factory  life, 
such  as  the  employment  of  women  and  children,  sanitation,  acci- 
dent prevention  and  industrial  poisoning  and  diseases.  The  labor 
of  the  Commission,  in  brief,  was  to  be  devoted  to  a  consideration 
of  measures  for  the  conservation  of  human  life. 


KEPOKT  OF  COMMISSION.  13 

ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  COMMISSION 

The  Commission  was  organized  on  the  17th  day  of  August, 
1911,  by  the  election  of  Senator  Robert  F.  Wagner,  as  Chairman, 
and  Hon.  Alfred  E.  Smith,  Vice-Chairman.  Frank  A.  Tierney 
was  selected  as  Secretary.  The  Commission  appointed  Abram 
I.  Elkus,  Chief  Counsel,  and  Bernard  L.  Shientag,  Assistant 
Counsel. 

WORK  OF  COMMISSION  IN  1911 

The  Commission  retained  Dr.  George  M.  Price  as  its  expert 
in  general  charge  of  the  work  of  inspection  and  sanitation.  Dr. 
Price  immediately  organized  a  corps  of  inspectors  for  this  pur- 
pose. The  Commission  also  retained  Mr.  H.  F.  J.  Porter  as 
advisory  expert  on  the  fire  problem. 

The  Commission  held  public  hearings  and  executive  sessions 
in  New  York  City  and  in  all  other  cities  of  the  first  and  second 
class  in  the  state,  and  conducted  the  following  investigations: 

1.  General  sanitary  investigation  of  factories  in  cities  of  the 
first  and  second  class. 

2.  Fire-hazard  in  factories. 

3.  Conditions  in  bakeries  and  physical  examination  of  bakers 
employed  therein. 

4.  Lead  poisoning  and  arsenical  poisoning. 

5.  Women's  trades. 

6.  An  industrial  survey  of  a  selected  area  in  New  York  City. 

7.  Preliminary  investigation  of  child  labor  in  tenement  houses. 

The  results  of  all  these  investigations  are  fully  set  forth  in 
the  Commission's  preliminary  report.  This  report  together  with 
the  minutes  of  the  public  hearings  and  the  bills  recommended 
by  the  Commission  were  submitted  to  the  legislature  on  March 
1st,  1912.  The  following  bills  recommended  by  the  Commission 
were  passed  by  the  legislature  and  have  become  laws : 

Labor  Law. 

1.  Registration  of  factories Sec.  69 

2.  Physical  examination  of   children  before  employ- 

ment certificate  is  issued .    Sec.  71 


14  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

3.  Fire  drills Sec.  83a 

4.  Automatic  sprinklers Sec.  83b 

5.  Fire  prevention ;  removal  of  rubbish ;  fireproof  recep- 

tacles for  waste  material ;  protection  of  gas  jets ; 
prohibition  of  smoking  in  factories Sec.  83c 

6.  Prohibition  of  the  eating  of  lunch  in  rooms  where 

poisonous  substances  are  prepared  or  generated 
in  the  process  of  manufacture ;  adequate  hot  and 
cold  washing  facilities  for  such  establishments .  .  Sec.  89a 

7.  Employment    prohibited    of    women    within    four 

weeks  after  child-birth Sec.  93a 

8.  Summary  power  of  Commissioner  of  Labor  over 

unclean  and  unsanitary  factories Sec.    95 

On  March  6th,  1912,  chapter  21  of  the  laws  of  1912  was 
passed  extending  the  time  of  the  Commission  within  which  it 
might  continue  its  investigations  and  submit  its  complete  report, 
to  January  15,  1913.  This  act  extended  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Commission  to  cities  throughout  the  state  and  also  empowered 
the  Commission  to  investigate  general  conditions  in  mercantile 
establishments. 

WORK  OF  THE  COMMISSION  SINCE  MARCH  GTH,  1912 

After  March,  1912,  the  Commission  continued  its  investiga- 
tions with  the  organization  previously  mentioned;  except  that 
James  P.  Whiskeman,  C.  E.,  was  retained  as  advisory  expert  on 
the  fire  problem,  and  in  December,  1912,  Mr.  Laurence  Arnold 
Tanzer,  and  Mr.  Clarence  King  of  the  Legislative  Bill-Drafting 
Bureau  of  Columbia  University,  were  retained  to  assist  in  the 
drafting  of  bills  to  be  submitted  to  the  Legislature. 

In  1912  the  Commission  conducted  the  following  investiga- 
tions : 

INVESTIGATIONS 

1.     GENERAL  SANITARY  INVESTIGATION 

This  investigation  which  was  commenced  in  1911  was  con- 
tinued in  1912  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Price  with  a  staff  of 
six  field  inspectors,  who  were  assisted  from  time  to  time  by  spe- 
cial investigators  and  experts. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  15 

The  investigation  of  1911  covered  1,836  industrial  establish- 
ments in  which  63,374  wage  earners  were  employed,  and  included 
9  cities  of  the  state. 

The  investigation  of  1912  covered  1,338  industrial  establish- 
ments in  which  125,961  wage  earners  were  employed,  and 
included  45  cities  of  the  state.  The  entire  number  of  establish- 
ments covered  by  the  general  sanitary  investigations  for  1911  and 
1912  was  3,176  in  which  189,335  wage  earners  were  employed. 
These  do  not  include  some  400  establishments  that  were  inspected 
in  Rochester  in  December,  1912,  and  numerous  establishments 
inspected  by  experts  whom  the  Commission  had  retained  to 
examine  different  phases  of  the  chemical  industry  in  this  state. 

The  general  sanitary  investigation  covered  such  matters  as  the 
location  and  construction  of  factories,  their  light  and  illumina- 
tion, heating  and  ventilation,  water  supply  and  washing  service, 
toilet  accommodations,  dressing  and  lunch  rooms,  and  general 
cleanliness. 

The  results  of  this  investigation  will  be  found  in  the  report  of 
the  director  of  investigation  in  Appendix  II,  chapters  1  and  2. 

2.     THE  FIEE  PROBLEM 

This  investigation  was  conducted  under  the  direction  of  James 
P.  Whiskeman,  C.  E.,  under  whose  supervision  several  hundred 
factories  in  JsTew  York  City  and  other  cities  of  the  state  were 
inspected.  Mr.  Whiskeman's  report  will  be  found  in  Appen- 
dix III. 

3.     MANUFACTURING  IN   TENEMENT  HOUSES 

This  investigation  was  conducted  under  the  direction  of  Miss 
Elizabeth  C.  Watson,  who  was  assisted  by  a  force  of  eleven  field 
inspectors.  It  covered  conditions  under  which  manufacturing 
was  carried  on  in  tenement  houses  in  Xew  York  City,  and  in 
fifteen  other  cities  of  the  state.  The  investigation  embraced  the 
employment  of  women  and  children  in  their  homes,  sanitary  con- 
ditions under  which  they  worked,  and  wages. 

Miss  Watson's  report  is  set  forth  in  Appendix  IV. 

4.     CONDITIONS  IN  THE  CANNERIES 

This  investigation  was  conducted  under  the  supervision  of 
Zenas  L.  Potter,  with  the  assistance  of  nine  investigators,  several 


16  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

of  whom  found  employment  in  the  canneries  in  order  to  observe 
working  conditions  at  first  hand.  The  investigation  was  a  com- 
prehensive one  and  included  practically  every  cannery  in  the 
state.  It  covered  the  employment  of  women  and  children  in  the 
canneries  and  cannery  sheds,  their  hours  of  labor,  the  sanitary 
conditions  in  the  canneries,  and  the  housing  conditions  of  the 
employees.  Mr.  Potter's  report  will  be  found  in  Appendix  V. 

5.  NIGHT  WORK  OF  WOMEN 

This  investigation  was  made  by  Miss  G-.  Potter  and  Miss  Gr.  E. 
Smith,  who  obtained  the  personal  histories  of  100  night  workers 
in  a  large  industrial  establishment  in  the  central  part  of  the 
state  where  there  was  a  regular  night  shift  of  women.  The  results 
of  this  investigation  are  set  forth  in  detail  in  Appendix  II, 
chapter  3. 

6.  THE  TOBACCO  INDUSTRY 

This  investigation  covered  251  establishments  consisting  of  472 
separate  shops  in  which  15,594  persons  were,  employed.  In  con- 
nection with  this  investigation  a  physical  examination  was  made 
by  Dr.  Fanny  Dembo  of  600  women  workers  in  the  various 
tobacco  factories.  This  is  the  first  medical  examination  that  has 
ever  been  made  of  so  large  a  number  of  women  workers  in  fac- 
tories. The  results  of  the  sanitary  investigation  and  physical 
examination  of  the  workers  are  set  forth  in  Appendix  II,  chap- 
ter 5. 

7.  THE  PRINTING  INDUSTRY 

This  investigation  covered  348  separate  printing  places  in  which 
9,047  persons,  of  whom  14.7%  were  women,  were  found  employed. 
The  printing  establishments  inspected  were  distributed  in  a  num- 
ber of  cities,  although  the  majority  were  in  New  York  City.  The 
results  of  this  investigation  are  set  forth  in  Appendix  II,  chap- 
ter 6. 

8.     INVESTIGATION  OF  DANGEROUS  TRADES 

The  Chemical  Industry 

Under  the  supervision  of  Dr.  Price,  142  chemical  establish- 
ments were  inspected.  The  results  of  this  investigation  are  set 
forth  in  Appendix  II,  chapter  4. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  17 

Wood  Alcohol 

An  important  study  was  made  by  the  Commission  of  wood 
alcohol  or  methyl  and  its  effect  on  workers.  This  investigation 
was  made  under  the  supervision  of  Charles  Baskerville,  Ph.  D., 
F.  C.  S.,  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  director  of  the  laboratory 
of  The  College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  with  several  assistants. 
Prof.  Baskerville's  services  were  gratuitous  and  the  Commission 
takes  this  opportunity  to  express  its  appreciation  of  the  valuable 
contribution  he  has  made  to  the  report.  Prof.  Baskerville's 
report  will  be  found  in  Appendix  VI. 

Commercial  Acids 

Dr.  Charles  F.  McKenna  was  retained  as  chemical  expert  by 
the  Commission  to  make  an  intensive  study  of  the  manufacture 
and  use  of  various  commercial  acids  and  their  effects  upon  those 
employed  to  manufacture  them  or  to  use  them  in  manufacturing 
processes.  Dr.  McKenna's  report  on  "  The  Dangers  to  Workers 
in  the  Manufacture  and  Use  of  Commercial  Acids,"  will  be  found 
in  Appendix  VII. 

Lead  Poisoning 

In  1911  a  study  of  lead  poisoning  in  New  York  City  was  made 
for  the  Commission  by  Dr.  E.  E.  Pratt,  whose  findings  appear 
in  the  Commission's  preliminary  report.  In  1912  an  additional 
investigation  of  a  large  number  of  lead  works  and  establishments 
in  other  cities  of  the  state  where  lead  is  used  in  the  process  of 
manufacture  was  made  by  C.  T.  Graham-Rogers,  M.  D.,  medical 
inspector  of  the  state  department  of  labor  with  the  assistance  of 
John  H.  Vogt,  B.  S.,  a  factory  inspector,  who  were  assigned  to 
the  Commission  through  the  courtesy  of  the  Commissioner  of 
Labor.  Dr.  Rogers'  report  will  be  found  in  Appendix  VIII. 

Miscellaneous  Reports 

A  number  of  miscellaneous  investigations  and  studies  relating 
to  dangerous  trades  were  made  for  the  Commission  as  follows : 

A. —  Report  of  the  inspection  of  establishments  producing, 
refining,  or  using  wood  alcohol,  by  Frederick  E.  Breithut,  Sc.  D., 
of  The  College  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

2 


18  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

B. —  Tables  compiled  by  Jacob  Feldbaurn,  B.  S.,  showing  the 
accidents  and  dangers  in  the  chemical  industries  in  New  York 
State  as  compared  with  those  of  various  European  countries. 

C. —  Detailed  description  of  forty  accidents  occurring  in  chem- 
ical establishments  at  Niagara  Falls,  by  Miss  G.  Potter. 

D. —  Histories  of  31  cases  of  lead  poisoning  traced  to  chemical 
establishments  in  Niagara  Falls,  by  Miss  G.  E.  Smith. 

E. —  Personal  histories  of  132  chemical  workers  in  plants  at 
Niagara  Falls,  by  Marie  S.  Orenstein,  M.  A.,  of  the  state  depart- 
ment of  labor. 

F. —  Diseases  of  the  ear  and  upper  respiratory  tract  among 
workers  in  factories,  by  Otto  Glogau,  M.  D.  This  report  embraced 
the  physical  examination  of  155  employees  in  six  factories  in 
the  ostrich  feather,  fur,  and  cordage  industries.  The  services  of 
Dr.  Glogau  were  rendered  without  compensation  and  the  Com- 
mission desires  to  express  its  thanks  to  him  for  his  valuable  assist- 
ance and  co-operation. 

The  foregoing  reports  will  be  found  in  Appendix  II,  chapter  7. 

9.     MERCANTILE  INVESTIGATION 

A  preliminary  investigation  of  department  stores  extending 
over  a  period  of  two  months,  was  made  by  the  Commission.  The 
conditions  of  employment  particularly  of  women  and  children 
were  studied  in  216  establishments  in  New  York,  Buffalo,  and 
Rochester,  and  in  six  cities  of  the  second  class.  Attention  was 
directed  especially  to  hours  of  labor,  physical  conditions,  and 
wages.  The  investigation  was  conducted  under  the  supervision 
of  Pauline  Goldmark  and  George  A.  Hall.  Five  investigators 
were  engaged  for  the  field  work.  The  report  will  be  found  in 
Appendix  IX. 

The  Commission  desires  to  express  its  appreciation  of  the  faith- 
ful, conscientious,  and  able  services  rendered  by  all  those  in 
charge  of  the  various  investigations,  and  by  their  assistants. 

PUBLIC  HEARINGS 

In  1912  the  Commission  held  30  public  hearings  in  the  cities 
of  New  York,  Buffalo,  Rochester,  Syracuse,  Utica,  Troy,  Albany, 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  19 

Yonkers,  and  Niagara  Falls.     At  these  hearings  259  witnesses 
were  examined  and  3,557  pages  of  testimony  were  taken. 

HEARINGS  IN  CONNECTION  WITH  INSPECTIONS  OF  FACTORIES 
On  General  Factory  Conditions 

The  Commission  decided  that  it  was  advisable  to  make  personal 
inspections  of  a  number  of  factories  throughout  the  state  for  the 
purpose  of  observing  the  working  conditions  at  first  hand.  Accord- 
ingly, about  fifty  factories  in  all  were  inspected  by  the  Commis- 
sion in  the  cities  previously  mentioned  and  also  in  Little  Falls 
and  Auburn.  In  many  cases  the  testimony  of  the  manufacturers 
and  of  the  employees  was  taken  in  the  course  of  these  inspections. 

On  Conditions  in  Canneries 

The  members  of  the  Commission  devoted  a  week  in  August  to 
a  personal  inspection  of  the  canneries  of  the  State.  In  all,  six 
canneries,  in  the  cities  of  Rome,  Canastota,  Auburn,  Geneva, 
Albion  and  Batavia  were  inspected  officially  by  the  members  of 
the  Commission.  They  went  from  cannery  to  cannery  and  took 
the  testimony  of  the  canners,  the  superintendents,  and  foremen, 
and  of  the  women  and  children  found  there  at  work. 

EXECUTIVE  SESSIONS 

In  addition  to  the  many  executive  sessions  of  the  Commission, 
which  had  been  called  to  determine  its  organization,  the  investi- 
gations to  be  conducted,  and  the  recommendations  for  remedial 
legislation,  the  Commission  also  held  the  following  executive  ses- 
sions for  employees  who  wished  to  appear  and  to  testify  to  the 
conditions  under  which  they  worked : 

1.  Executive  session  for  foundry  workers,  held  in  Albany. 

2.  Executive  session  for  employees  in  department  stores,  held 
in  New  York  City. 

3.  Executive  session  for  those  affected  by  lead  poisoning  in 
factories  in  Niagara  Falls,  held  at  Niagara  Falls. 

ISSUANCE  OF  TENTATIVE  BILLS 

The  Commission  followed  the  procedure  of  issuing  early  in 
the  fall,  in  the  form  of  proposed  bills,  the  most  important  recom- 


20  REPOET  OF  COMMISSION. 

niendations  that  had  been  received  for  remedial  legislation.  These 
tentative  bills  embodied  recommendations,  none  of  which  had  been 
formally  passed  upon  by  the  Commission.  In  fact  certain  mem- 
bers of  the  Commission  had  expressed  individually  their  disap- 
proval of  the  enactment  of  some  of  them.  The  Commission, 
however,  believed  that  all  those  who  were  interested  in  its  work 
or  who  would  be  affected  by  the  legislation  suggested,  were  entitled 
to  know  precisely  the  recommendations  which  had  been  received 
from  various  sources  and  were  then  under  consideration.  This 
method  has  proved  very  successful.  About  thirty  tentative  bills, 
dealing  with  different  phases  of  the  Commission's  work,  were 
sent  to  several  thousand  persons  throughout  the  state.  As  a  result, 
suggestions  and  criticisms  were  received  from  all  of  the  various 
interests.  Associations  of  employers  and  of  employees,  scientific 
societies  and  social  organizations  formed  committees  to  consider 
the  proposed  bills.  From  many  of  these  were  received  briefs  and 
memoranda.  Beyond  doubt  the  issuance  of  these  tentative  bills 
created  great  interest  in  the  work  of  the  Commission  and  gave 
to  it  the  benefit  of  the  wisdom  and  experience  of  very  many 
employers,  employees,  social  workers,  and  experts  throughout  the 
state.  The  bills  proposed  were  discussed  in  general  at  the  public 
hearings  referred  to  above.  The  following  public  hearings  were 
also  held  to  discuss  in  particular  the  proposed  bills  dealing  with 
special  subjects. 

SPECIAL  HEARINGS  ON  TENTATIVE  BILLS 
1912 
November  25,  in  Albany,  the  foundry  bill  and  the  employment  of 

women  in  core  rooms. 

November  26,  in  Albany,  cannery  legislation. 
December  2nd,   in  New  York  City,  the  reorganization  of   the 

labor  department. 

December  3rd,  in  New  York  City,  bakeries. 
December  4th,  in  New  York  City,  the  fire  problem. 
December  5th,  in  New  York  City,  home  work  in  tenement  houses. 
December  6th,  in  New  York  City,  the  employment  of  women  and 

children. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  21 

APPRECIATION  OF  ASSISTANCE  RENDERED  TO  THE  COMMISSION 

The  Commission  owes  much  of  what  it  has  been  able  to  accom- 
plish to  the  active  assistance  and  co-operation  received  throughout 
its  work  from  numerous  civic  and  social  organizations  and  from 
many  public-spirited  men  and  women  who  have  given  it  their 
encouragement  and  support  and  placed  at  its  disposal  their  time, 
knowledge,  and  experience. 

In  particular  we  desire  to  express  to  the  Hon.  John  Williams, 
Commissioner  of  Labor  of  the  State  of  New  York,  our  apprecia- 
tion of  his  assistance  and  counsel,  and  of  his  courtesy  in  assign- 
ing to  the  Commission  inspectors  from  his  department  who  aided 
us  very  materially  in  our  investigations. 

We  also  gratefully  acknowledge  our  indebtedness  to  the 
National  Child  Labor  Committee,  the  New  York  Child  Labor 
Committee  and  the  Consumers'  League  for  their  assistance  and 
co-operation  in  connection  with  the  cannery  and  homework  investi- 
gations conducted  by  the  Commission  and  to  the  Legislative  Bill 
Drafting  Bureau  of  Columbia  University  for  its  assistance  in  the 
drafting  of  bills. 

We  thank  especially  Miss  Pauline  Goldmark  not  only  for  her 
able  assistance  in  the  mercantile  investigation  but  also  for  her 
advice  and  counsel  on  all  matters  connected  with  the  work  of  the 
Commission. 

We  take  this  opportunity  to  express  our  thanks  and  apprecia- 
tion also  to  the  following  men  and  women  who  have  very  gener- 
ously assisted  the  Commission  in  its  work: 

Mr.  George  W.  Alger,  Dr.  E.  M.  Alger,  Mr.  Eugene  S.  Benja- 
min, Mr.  Reginald  Pelham  Bolton,  Mr.  Peter  J.  Brady,  Mr. 
Frank  T.  Chapman,  Mr.  Frank  K.  Chew,  Mr.  Julius  Henry 
Cohen,  Dr.  Thomas  Darlington,  Mr.  John  A.  Fitch,  Mr.  Thomas 
D.  Fitzgerald,  Miss  Josephine  Goldmark,  Mr.  George  A.  Hall, 
Mr.  Leonard  W.  Hatch,  Mr.  Frank  P.  Hill,  Dr.  H.  E.  Ives,  Mrs. 
Florence  Kelley,  Mr.  Paul  U.  Kellogg,  Mr.  Paul  Kennaday,  Mr. 
D.  D.  Kimball,  Dr.  S.  Adolphus  Knopf,  Mr.  C.  L.  Law,  Mr. 
Walter  Lindner,  Prof.  Samuel  McCune  Lindsay,  Mr.  Owen  R. 
Love  joy,  Hon.  Alexander  C.  MacNulty,  Mr.  W.  W.  Macon,  Mr. 
Louis  B.  Marks,  Mr.  F.  J.  Millar,  Mr.  V.  Everit  Macy,  Mr. 
John  Martin,  Mr.  Henry  Morgenthau,  Mr.  D.  W.  O'Connor,  Mr. 


22  REPOKT  OF  COMMISSION. 

Thomas  I.  Parkinson,  Miss  Frances  Perkins,  Mr.  Allan  Robinson, 
Mr.  I.  M.  Rubinow,  Prof.  Henry  R.  Seager,  Prof.  Vladimir 
Simkhovitch,  Mr.  C.  H.  Stickney,  Dr.  W.  H.  Tolman,  Mr.  F.  S. 
Tomlin,  Miss  Mary  Van  Kleeck,  Mr.  Lawrence  Veiller,  Mr. 
Oswald  G.  Villard,  Miss  Lillian  D.  Wald,  Mr.  A.  F.  Weber,  Mr. 
Mornay  Williams,  Prof.  Charles  E.  A.  Winslow. 

We  also  warmly  thank  the  scores  of  others  who  assisted  us  with 
their  views  and  suggestions  at  public  hearings  and  at  private 
conferences. 

POLICY  OF  THE  COMMISSION 

The  Commission  has  endeavored  to  be  fair  and  just  in  its 
investigations  and  in  its  findings.  In  no  case  has  the  inquiry 
been  partial.  We  have  given  to  everyone  interested  an  opportu- 
nity to  appear  at  public  hearings  and  at  private  conferences. 
Notice  of  our  public  hearings  was  given  weeks  in  advance  and 
they  were  all  largely  attended. 

At  the  hearing,  for  instance,  on  cannery  legislation  there  were 
more  than  twenty  canners  present  accompanied  by  counsel.  At 
the  hearing  on  the  foundry  bill  twenty-five  foundry  owners  of  this 
state  and  the  representatives  of  the  Molders'  Unions  appeared. 
At  the  hearing  on  bakery  legislation  the  master  bakers  of  the 
state  and  of  ISTew  York  City,  representatives  of  bakers'  unions, 
and  health  officials  were  present.  At  every  public  hearing,  in 
short,  we  endeavored  to  have  all  sides  represented,  and  to  receive 
the  views  and  suggestions  of  all  divergent  interests. 

We  permitted  the  cross-examination  of  our  own  inspectors  and 
investigators  by  parties  in  interest  and  by  their  counsel, —  a  most 
novel  procedure  for  an  investigating  commission.  We  allowed 
parties  in  interest  to  call  witnesses  and  to  have  their  own  counsel 
examine  them. 

At  no  time  have  we  lost  sight  of  the  fact  that  we  were  an 
investigating  commission,  not  a  prosecuting  or  persecuting  com- 
mission. As  in  our  investigations,  so  in  the  recommendations 
that  we  are  submitting,  we  have  endeavored  to  do  what  was  fair 
and  reasonable  to  all  concerned  —  the  manufacturer,  the  em- 
ployee, and  the  public  whose  representatives  we  are. 

A  series  of  bills  that  embody  our  recommendations  are  set  forth 
in  Appendix  I.  In  the  drafting  of  these  bills  we  have  had  the 
advice  and  assistance  of  a  number  of  experts. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  23 

The  question  Has  been  raised  repeatedly:  What  effect  will 
new  laws  for  the  improvement  of  conditions  of  working  people 
have  on  the  industries  of  the  state?  The  Commission  believes 
that  nothing  should  be  done  to  injure  any  industry.  We  believe 
that  our  industries  should  be  not  only  unhampered,  but  even  aided 
and  assisted  in  their  growth  and  development  so  that  they  may 
be  able  to  afford  better  and  more  remunerative  employment  to 
the  people;  but  we  believe  just  as  firmly  that  no  reasonable 
requirement  for  the  health  and  safety  of  the  workers  will  injure 
any  industry.  Enlightened  manufacturers  have  appeared  before 
the  Commission  in  different  cities  of  the  state  and  asserted  that 
an  improvement  in  working  conditions  means  an  increase  in  effi- 
ciency and  pays  from  the  standpoint  of  dollars  and  cents. 
Whether  this  be  true  or  not,  we  believe  that  human  life  is  sacred 
and  must  be  placed  above  monetary  considerations.  The  broad 
aim  of  government  is  the  happiness  and  well  being  of  the  gov- 
erned. No  government  is  properly  performing  its  functions  when 
it  permits  the  working  people  within  its  bounds  to  be  employed 
under  unsanitary  conditions,  when  it  fails  to  protect  them  from 
preventable  disease  and  accident,  when  it  permits  the  premature 
employment  of  young  children,  and  the  excessive  toil  of  women. 
Short  sighted  indeed  is  the  policy  of  any  state  that  permits  the 
waste  of  its  human  assets. 

The  Hon.  William  Sulzer,  Governor  of  the  state,  in  his  mes- 
sage to  the  legislature  on  January  1st,  1913,  said: 

"  If  Americans  would  excel  other  nations  in  commerce,  in  man- 
ufacture, in  science,  in  intellectual  growth,  and  in  all  other 
humane  attainments,  we  must  first  possess  a  people  physically, 
mentally,  and  morally  fit  and  sound.  Any  achievement  that  is 
purchased  by  the  continual  sacrifice  of  human  life  does  not  advance 
our  material  resources  but  detracts  from  the  wealth  of  the  state. 
We  must  now  convince  employers  that  any  industry  that  saps  the 
vitality  and  destroys  the  initiative  of  the  workers  is  detrimental 
to  the  best  interests  of  the  state  and  menaces  the  general  welfare 
of  the  government." 

It  is  in  the  light  of  these  principles  that  this  report  is  submitted. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  25 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  REPORT 

1.  The  Labor  Law  and  Its  Administration 

2.  The  Fire  Problem 

3.  Manufacturing  in  Tenements 

4.  The  Canneries 

5.  Child  Labor 

6.  Night  Work  of  Women  in  Factories  and  Women's  Work 
Generally 

7.  The  Bakeries 

8.  General  Sanitary  Conditions 

9.  Accident  Prevention 

10.  Dangerous  Trades  and  Industrial  Poisoning 

11.  Foundries  and  Employment  of  Women  in  Core  Rooms 

12.  Mercantile  Establishments 


26  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

I. 

THE  LABOR  LAW  AND  ITS  ADMINISTRATION 

Laws  enacted  to  protect  industrial  workers  and  to  improve 
their  condition,  are  of  little  value  unless  adequate  machinery  of 
government  be  provided  to  administer  them  intelligently  and  to 
enforce  them  effectively.  The  labor  department  is  charged  with 
administering  the  statutes  dealing  with  the  health  and  safety  of 
the  men,  women,  and  children  employed  in  the  industries  of  the 
state.  There  are  in  this  state  over  40,000  factories  in  which 
1,250,000  workers  are  employed.  If  to  these  is  added  the  many 
thousands  of  employees  in  mercantile  establishments,  the  workers 
in  tenement  houses,  those  employed  in  tunnels,  mines  and  caissons 
and  those  engaged  in  the  construction  of  public  works,  it  is  safe 
to  say  that  the  Department  of  Labor  is  directly  responsible  for 
the  well-being  of  upwards  of  2,000,000  workers.  The  Depart- 
ment of  Labor  should  therefore  be  one  of  the  great  departments 
of  the  state.  Up  to  the  present  however,  this  department  has 
occupied  a  minor  position,  and  until  recent  years  practically  no 
attempt  has  been  made  to  raise  it  to  a  position  of  prominence 
commensurate  with  its  important  duties  and  functions. 

In  this,  the  greatest  industrial  state  of  the  union,  but  little 
attention  has  been  paid  to  the  preservation  of  the  state's  most 
precious  asset,  the  workers  within  its  bounds.  Consequently, 
very  little  attention  has  been  given  to  the  department  which  is 
charged  with  the  responsibility  for  safe  and  sanitary  working 
conditions. 

The  annual  appropriation  for  the  Department  of  Labor  for 
the  year  1912,  covering  all  its  varied  activities,  was  about 
$320,000.  This  was  a  large  increase  over  appropriations  in 
former  years  but  nevertheless,  was  so  utterly  inadequate  as  to 
make  impossible  even  an  attempt  to  enforce  all  the  laws  dealing 
with  the  health  and  safety  of  workers. 

The  Commissioner  of  Labor  in  his  annual  report  for  the  year 
ending  October  1st,  1911,  says,  in  referring  to  the  work  of  the 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  27 

bureau  of  factory  inspection,  with  which  this  Commission  is  most 
directly  concerned: 

"  No  claim  is  herein  set  up  that  the  Bureau  has  been  able 
to  compel  the  maintenance  of  proper  standards  at  all  times 
in  every  place  falling  within  its  jurisdiction.  I  can  only 
repeat  what  was  said  before,  that  one  or  two  visits  a  year  are 
not  enough.  We  cannot  by  such  insufficient  observations  find 
out  infractions  of  the  law  and  apply  the  remedies.  The 
Legislature  of  1911  provided  for  a  substantial  increase  in  the 
field  and  office  staff  of  the  Bureau,  but  even  when  fully 
equipped  according  to  the  improved  plan  of  organization,  its 
field  force  will  remain  inadequate  to  enforce  the  law." 

City  departments  do  practically  nothing  to  remedy  defective 
conditions  in  factories,  and  very  little  with  regard  to  mercantile 
establishments.  The  Department  of  Labor  alone  must  do  this 
important  work.  The  state  has  properly  assumed  the  duty  of 
looking  after  the  health  and  safety  of  its  industrial  workers  and 
local  authorities  rely  upon  the  state  to  see  that  this  duty  is 
performed. 

We  regret  to  be  compelled  to  say  that  the  state  has  not  in  the 
past  fully  discharged  this  duty.  Imperfect  laws  and  inadequate 
machinery  for  their  enforcement  have  materially  contributed  to 
the  annual  waste  of  human  life  in  our  industrial  establishments, 
a  waste  due  to  unsanitary  conditions  and  preventable  accidents 
and  disease. 

INADEQUACY  OF  THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  OF  FACTORY  INSPECTION 

The  principal  work  of  the  department  consists  in  the  inspection 
of  factories  and  the  enforcement  of  the  statutes  relating  to  the 
health  and  safety  of  employees.  To  this  branch  of  the  depart- 
ment's work  the  Commission  has  devoted  much  attention. 

That  the  present  system  of  factory  inspection  in  this  state  is 
inadequate,  is  the  opinion  of  every  witness  who  appeared  before 
the  Commission  at  public  hearings  and  at  executive  sessions.  This 
opinion  finds  expression  in  the  many  briefs  f,nd  memoranda 
received  from  various  sources.  It  is  shared  by  representative 
employees  and  employers,  by  civic  organizations  interested  in 
labor  conditions,  and  by  those  at  the  head  of  the  department  itself. 


28  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

This  inadequacy  of  factory  inspection  is  due  to  the  lack  of 
proper  statutes  and  to  the  lack  of  a  sufficient  number  of  inspectors, 
especially,  inspectors  of  scientific  and  technical  training.  Inspec- 
tions of  factories  are  infrequent.  Some  factories  are  not  inspected 
as  often  as  once  a  year.  No  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  pre- 
vention of  industrial  poisoning  and  diseases,  or  to  the  supervision 
of  workers  employed  in  dangerous  trades. 

The  Department  of  Labor  has  confined  it  efforts  to  acting  as 
a  police  department,  for  the  detection  and  punishment  of  viola- 
tions of  particular  provisions  in  the  statutes.  It  has  failed  utterly 
in  developing  its  true  function  as  a  department  of  education,  for 
establishing  closer  and  more  friendly  relations  between  worker 
and  employer,  and  for  enlisting  their  active  co-operation  not  only 
in  the  enforcement  of  the  law  but  in  the  steady  and  constant 
improvement  of  working  conditions. 

THE  PRESENT  LABOR  LAW 

The  ineffectiveness  of  the  administration  of  the  labor  law  in 
the  state  of  New  York  is  due,  in  large  measure,  to  defects  in  the 
law  itself.  Many  provisions  of  the  labor  law  now  in  force  are 
so  imperfect,  inadequate  or  antiquated  as  to  preclude  the  possi- 
bility of  successful  administration. 

The  labor  law  is  framed  on  what  we  believe  to  be  a  mistaken 
theory,  that  the  requirements  for  the  protection  of  the  health  and 
safety  of  workers  should  all  be  expressed  within  the  four  corners 
of  the  statute  itself.  The  attempt  to  carry  out  this  theory  has 
led  to  the  enactment  of  provisions,  so  specific  and  rigid  in  their 
requirements  as  to  make  their  enforcement  in  many  cases,  unjust, 
or  even  impossible.  They  fail  to  take  into  account  the  varying 
conditions  in  different  industries.  In  some  instances  where  the 
impossibility  of  setting  a  rigid  standard  for  all  cases  was  manifest, 
the  provisions  of  the  law  were  made  so  vague  and  indefinite  that 
their  meaning  or  application  could  not  be  determined  at  all,  or 
had  to  depend  upon  the  exercise  of  an  administrative  discretion, 
a  one-man  discretion,  so  arbitrary  in  character  and  so  calculated 
to  work  injustice,  that  it  was  either  not  exercised  at  all,  or,  when 
exercised,  became  a  natural  subject  of  distrust  on  the  part  of  the 
courts.  We  believe  that  the  only  way  of  obtaining  a  labor  law 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  29 

which  can  be  enforced,  is  to  abandon  the  theory  underlying  the 
labor  law  as  it  now  stands;  namely,  that  it  is  possible  in  any 
statute  to  provide  specifically,  the  measures  to  be  taken  for  the 
protection  of  the  lives,  health  and  safety  of  workers  in  each  indus- 
try and  under  all  conditions. 

This  theory  of  factory  legislation  we  believe  to  be  entirely  errone- 
ous. It  is  at  variance  with  the  systems  in  use  in  Wisconsin  and 
in  those  European  countries  where  the  administration  of  labor 
laws  has  been  a  decided  success. 

These  systems  of  labor  legislation  are  based  upon  the-  theory 
that  it  is  impossible  to  regulate  factory  sanitation  and  safety  solely 
by  statute. 

The  Commission,  as  a  result  of  investigations  and  study  of  the 
subject,  is  convinced  that  it  is  impossible  to  legislate  definitely 
by  statute  so  as  to  cover  the  details  of  all  industries.  These  details 
are  too  many  and  various  to  be  safely  enumerated  in  a  statute 
which  is  difficult  to  change.  Stringent  regulations  which  are  per- 
fectly proper  for  one  class  of  factories  are  often  unnecessary 
and  even  injurious  for  others. 

Conditions  vary  in  different  industries.  New  methods  of  man- 
ufacture, and  new  types  of  machinery  present  new  and  trouble- 
some questions  to  be  solved.  Our  labor  laws  should  have  reason- 
able elasticity  and  flexibility  so  as  to  permit  of  special  require- 
ments that  may  be  adjusted  to  the  progress  of  industry  and  its 
varying  conditions.  It  should  not  be  necessary  to  have  to  resort 
to  the  tedious  process  of  amending  an  old  law  or  enacting  a  new 
one  whenever  a  remedy  is  needed  for  some  condition  overlooked 
in  the  old  statute,  or  newly  discovered. 

We  are  of  opinion  that  the  legislature  should  make  broad  and 
general  requirements  for  safety  and  sanitation,  setting  forth  where 
practicable  minimum  requirements,  and  delegating  to  some  respon- 
sible authority  the  power  to  make  special  rules  and  regulations 
to  carry  the  provisions  of  the  statute  into  effect  in  the  different 
industries  and  under  varying  conditions.  These  rules  and  regu- 
lations should  be  collected  in  an  industrial  code  that  could  be 
enlarged  or  changed  with  comparative  ease  from  time  to  time  as 
occasion  might  require.  Such  a  principle  is  approved  by  all  those 
who  have  given  thought  and  study  to  this  important  subject. 


30  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

In  Europe  the  futility  of  regulating  labor  conditions  by  specific 
statutes,  was  recognized  a  long  time  ago.  There  the  statutes  are 
very  broad  and  general  and  power  is  given  to  administrative 
boards  to  make  rules  and  regulations  for  their  application  under 
varying  circumstances  and  conditions. 

The  question  of  how  to  render  these  principles  most  effective 
and  yet  to  secure  a  proper  enforcement  of  the  labor  law  as  well 
as  the  rules  and  regulations  adopted  thereunder,  has  proved  a  very 
difficult  problem. 

To  give  one  man,  namely,  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  the 
power  to  make  rules  and  regulations,  would  be  entirely  out  of  the 
question.  This  power  is  too  great  to  entrust  safely  to  any  one 
individual.  Two  other  methods  were  suggested:  (1)  to  create  a 
commission  at  the  head  of  the  Department  of  Labor  in  place  of 
the  present  single  commissioner,  with  power  to  make  rules  and 
regulations  and  to  enforce  them;  and  (2)  to  create  a  board  within 
the  Department  of  Labor  to  make  rules  and  regulations,  and  to 
leave  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  at  the  head  of  the  department, 
as  at  present,  with  full  power  to  enforce  the  provisions  of  the 
statute  and  the  rules  and  regulations  adopted  by  the  board,  and 
with  full  responsibility  for  their  enforcement. 

The  Commission  has  carefully  considered  the  advantages  and 
disadvantages  of  each  plan.  We  have  found  that  there  are  advan- 
tages and  disadvantages  in  each,  but  after  careful  study  we  have 
decided  that  the  second  alternative  is  the  one  likely  to  produce 
better  results  to  the  state.  In  reaching  that  conclusion,  we  were 
guided  by  the  following  principles : 

1.  Responsibility  for  enforcement  of  law  must  be  definitely 
located. 

2.  Administrative  work  can  best  be  done  by  one  man. 

3.  Questions  involving  discretion  and   requiring  deliberation 
are  best  decided  by  a  body  of  men. 

The  plan  we  propose  has  the  deliberative  advantages  of  com- 
mission government,  and  the  administrative  advantages  of  a  single 
head.  The  formation  of  a  board  to  make,  with  due  deliberation, 
regulations  that  shall  carry  into  effect  the  intent  and  purposes  of 
the  law,  will  secure  for  the  department  all  the  benefits  of  a  com- 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  31 

mission;  and  the  retention  at  the  head  of  the  department,  of  a 
single  commissioner  to  enforce  the  law  and  the  regulations  adopted 
thereunder,  will  prevent  any  shifting  of  responsibility. 

The  question  has  arisen,  whether  this  board  shall  be  merely 
advisory  and  its  conclusions  subject  to  veto  by  the  Commissioner 
of  Labor.  We  believe,  however,  that  such  veto  power  would  not 
produce  good  results.  Nevertheless,  the  Commissioner  of  Labor 
should  not  be  placed  in  a  subordinate  capacity,  but  should  be 
chairman  of  this  board  and  thus  have  an  important  voice  in  fram- 
ing the  rules  and  regulations  upon  which  the  successful  admin- 
istration of  his  department  so  largely  depends. 

INDUSTRIAL  BOARD 

We  therefore  recommend  that  an  industrial  board  to  the  Depart- 
ment of  Labor  be  created,  to  consist  of  the  Commissioner  of 
Labor  as  chairman  of  the  board,  and  four  associate  members  to 
be  appointed  by  the  Governor  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Senate.  The  first  appointees  are  to  serve  for  a  period  of  one, 
two,  three,  and  four  years  respectively,  and  subsequent  appointees 
are  to  serve  for  a  period  of  four  years.  The  Commissioner  of 
Labor  shall  have  an  equal  vote  in  all  proceedings  of  the  board. 

We  strongly  urge  that  the  membership  of  this  board  be  made 
up  of  a  representative  of  labor,  a  representative  of  employers,  a 
woman,  and  a  scientist.  The  associate  members  shall  each  receive 
an  annual  salary  of  $3,000  and  necessary  traveling  and  other 
expenses. 

The  board  may  appoint  a  secretary  and  the  commissioner  shall 
detail  from  time  to  time  to  its  assistance  such  employees  of  the 
Department  of  Labor  as  the  board  may  require.  The  board  may 
employ  outside  experts  for  special  and  occasional  service  and 
may  form  voluntary  committees  representing  different  interests 
concerned  in  any  special  subject  that  it  has  under  consideration. 

Meetings  of  the  Board 

The  board  shall  meet  at  least  once  a  month  and  at  such  other 
times  as  the  public  service  may  require.  It  is  our  opinion  that 
the  members  of  the  board  will  never  be  giving  less  than  one-third 
of  their  time  to  this  work  and  that  for  the  first  year  more  than 
half  of  their  time  will  have  to  be  thus  devoted. 


32  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

The  Commissioner  of  Labor  or  any  two  associate  members  of 
the  board  may  call  meetings.  Counsel  to  the  department  shall 
act  as  counsel  to  the  board  without  additional  compensation.  All 
meetings  are  to  be  public. 

Powers  of  the  Board 

We  recommend  that  the  industrial  board  be  given  the  follow- 
ing powers : 

1.  To  make  investigations  concerning  all  matters  which  relate 
to  the  enforcement  and  effect  of  the  provisions  of  the  labor  law; 
to  subpoena  and  require  the  attendance  of  witnesses  and  the  pro- 
duction of  books  and  papers  pertinent  to  the  investigations  and 
for  that  purpose  to  have  all  of  the  powers  of  a  legislative  com- 
mittee.    Each  member  of  the  board  and  the  secretary  shall  have 
the  power  to  make  personal  inspections  of  all  factories,  mercantile 
establishments,  and  premises  affected  by  the  labor  law. 

There  will  thus  be  in  the  Department  of  Labor  itself  the 
machinery  for  special  investigations  whenever  the  conditions  war- 
rant them,  so  that  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  appeal  to  the  legis- 
lature for  the  appointment  of  a  commission,  whenever  a  situation 
arises  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the  people,  requires  study  and 
investigation. 

2.  To  make,  alter,   amend,  and  repeal  rules  and  regulations 
for  carrying  into  effect  the  provisions  of  the  labor  law  and  to 
apply  such  provisions  to  specific  conditions  and  to  prescribe  spe- 
cific means,  methods,  or  practices  to  make  such  provisions  effec- 
tive.    Such  rules  and  regulations  may  apply  in  whole  or  in  part 
to  particular  kinds   of  factories  or  workshops   or  to  particular 
machines,  apparatus,  or  articles ;  or  to  particular  processes,  indus- 
tries, trades  or  occupations ;  or  they  may  be  limited  in  their  appli- 
cation   to    factories    or    workshops    hereafter    established    or    to 
machines,  or  apparatus  installed  in  the  future. 

The  present  provision  in  the  law,  for  example,  requiring  ade- 
quate ventilation  has  been  a  dead  letter.  The  industrial  board 
would  have  the  power  to  fix  standards  of  ventilation,  temperature 
and  humidity,  to  be  applied  to  different  industries,  under  different 
conditions,  and  these  standards  could  be  changed  or  modified  as 
circumstances  required. 


KEPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  33 

We  also  recommend  that  a  provision  be  inserted  in  the  labor 
law  that  all  factory  buildings  and  mercantile  establishments  shall 
be  so  constructed,  equipped,  arranged,  operated,  and  conducted 
in  all  respects  as  to  provide  reasonable  and  adequate  protection 
to  the  lives,  health  and  safety,  of  all  persons  employed  and  that 
the  industrial  board  shall  be  empowered  to  make  rules  and  regu- 
lations to  carry  into  effect  the  purpose  and  intent  of  the  labor 
law  for  protecting  the  health  and  safety,  and  promoting  the 
well-being  of  workers  in  industrial  establishments.  These  rules 
and  regulations  should  of  course  be  consistent  with  such  mini- 
mum or  maximum  requirements  as  may  be  specified  in  the  statute. 

Procedure  of  the  Board 

Before  any  rule  or  regulation  is  adopted,  altered,  amended  or 
repealed,  a  public  hearing  must  be  held  thereon,  notice  of  which 
shall  be  published  not  less  than  ten  days  in  the  bulletins  of  the 
department  or  in  such  newspapers  as  may  be  prescribed. 

Employers,  workers  and  all  others  interested  would  thus  be 
given  an  opportunity  to  make  recommendations  and  to  submit 
criticisms  concerning  proposed  regulations.  The  board  could  at 
any  time  consult  the  experts  of  the  department  and  in  special 
cases  outside  experts  could  be  retained.  The  formation  of  vol- 
untary committees  to  advise  the  board  concerning  matters  under 
consideration  would  be  encouraged.  Regulations  would  be 
adopted  or  modified,  only  after  a  full  hearing  of  all  interested 
parties  and  with  the  advice  and  suggestions  of  experts. 

INDTJSTBIAL  CODE 

The  rules  and  regulations  adopted  by  the  board  in  force  on 
the  first  day  of  January,  1914,  and  the  amendments  thereof  and 
additions  thereto  shall  constitute  the  Industrial  Code  and  shall  be 
certified  and  filed  with  the  Secretary  of  State. 

DELEGATION  OF  LEGISLATIVE  POWEB 

We  are  convinced  that  this  delegation  of  power  to  make  rules 
and  regulations  is  valid  and  constitutional.  Chief  Justice 
MARSHALL  declared,  in  1825 : 

"  The  difference  between  the  departments  undoubtedly  is, ' 
that  the  legislature  makes,  the  executive  executes,  and  the 
3 


34  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

judiciary  construes  the  law;  but  the  maker  of  the  law  may 
commit  something  to  the  discretion  of  the  other  departments, 
and  the  precise  boundary  of  this  power  is  a  subject  of  delicate 
and  difficult  inquiry,  into  which  a  court  will  not  enter  un- 
necessarily." * 

The  constitutionality  of  such  delegation  of  power  turns  upon 
this  question:  Has  the  legislature  laid  down  general  rules  de- 
termining the  policy  of  the  law  and  leaving  the  details  to  an 
administrative  body,  or  has  the  legislature  left  it  to  the  discretion 
of  this  administrative  body  to  determine  whether  there  shall  be 
any  legislation  on  the  subject  at  all  ?  A  delegation  of  power  to 
enunciate  new  policies  in  addition  to  those  declared  by  the  legis- 
lature would  be  unconstitutional;  but  the  power  to  be  conferred 
upon  the  Industrial  Board  is  not  to  enunciate  new  policies,  but 
merely  to  establish  regulations  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out 
effectively  the  policy  declared  by  the  law,  which  provides  clearly 
and  unequivocally  that  factories  and  manufacturing  establishments 
shall  be  constructed,  operated  and  maintained  so  as  to  ensure  the 
health,  safety  and  well-being  of  all  employees. 

A  number  of  recent  decisions  have  sustained  legislation  that 
permitted  full  power  of  regulation  by  an  administrative  body. 
The  most  notable  recent  instance  of  such  a  holding  in  this  state 
is  the  case  of  Saratoga  Springs  v.  Saratoga  Co.,  191  N.  Y.,  123. 
There  the  court  sustained  a  statute  which  established  a  commission 
with  power  to  determine  the  maximum  price  to  be  charged  for 
service  by  gas  and  electric  light  companies.  The  validity  of  the 
act  was  challenged  on  the  ground  that  it  delegated  legislative 
powers  to  an  administrative  body.  The  court  said  that  the  legis- 
lature could  not  delegate  legislative  powers,  adding,  however : 

"  But  if  it  is  intended  to  go  further  and  deny  the  power 
of  the  legislature  to  confer  by  general  laws  upon  other 
branches  of  the  government,  the  duty  not  only  of  executing  the 
law,  but  of  determining  its  application  to  particular  cases 
and  formulating  rules  for  its  exercise,  then  in  my  judgment 
it  is  not  true  "  (page  134). 

*  Wayman  v.  Southard,  10  Wheaton,  1. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  35 

The  Court  considered  the  difficulty  of  establishing  in  advance, 
by  statute,  rates  for  all  cases,  saying,  at  page  144: 

"  It  is  plain  that  no  uniform  rate  of  charges  could  be 
established  that  would  be  just  or  reasonable.  *  * 
While  no  consideration  of  convenience  or  of  supposed  neces- 
sity would  justify  us  in  ignoring  any  constitutional  mandate 
or  limitation,  it  must  be  remembered  that  we  have  no  ex- 
press constitutional  provision  on  the  subject,  and  that  it  is 
sought  to  condemn  the  legislation  before  us  solely  by  ex- 
tending the  principle  that  the  legislature  cannot  delegate 
legislative  powers  (a  principle  which,  though  unquestionably 
true,  is,  as  we  have  seen,  true  only  within  limits),  to  a  point 
that  would  render  efficient  legislation  on  the  subject 
impracticable." 

These  considerations  seem  no  less  applicable  to  the  safeguarding 
of  employees  than  to  the  fixing  of  rates.  In  either  case  it  is  impos- 
sible to  formulate  in  advance  a  rule  to  provide  reasonable  and  ade- 
quate safeguards  for  every  contingency. 

In  the  case  cited  it  was  contended  that  the  statute  laid  down 
no  rule,  but  allowed  the  commission  to  legislate.  The  court 
answered  at  page  145 : 

"  The  statute  is  complete.  The  legislature,  not  the  com- 
mission, has  enacted  that  there  shall  be  maximum  rates  for 
the  charges  of  the  gas  and  electric  light  companies,  that 
light  shall  be  furnished  to  consumers  at  those  rates,  and 
has  provided  the  penalty  for  extorting  greater  charges  for 
service.  What  is  entrusted  to  the  commission  is  the  duty 
of  investigating  the  facts,  and,  after  a  public  hearing,  of 
ascertaining  and  determining  what  is  a  reasonable  maximum 
rate." 

So  here  the  legislature  announces  its  policy  of  providing  ade- 
quate and  reasonable  safeguards  for  employees  and  leaves  it  to 
the  Industrial  Board  to  determine  what  are  reasonable  and 
adequate  safeguards. 

The  court  quotes,  with  approval,  the  following  from  Mr.  Jus- 
tice Brewer's  opinion  in  Chicago  Co.  v.  Dey,  35  Fed.  866: 

"  The  law  books  are  full  of  statutes  unquestionably  valid, 
in  which  the  legislation  has  been  content  simply  to  establish 


36  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

rules  and  principles,  leaving  execution  and  details  to  other 
officers." 

The  policy  declared  by  the  legislature  need  not  be  set  forth  in 
detail,  but  may  be  stated  in  general  terms.  In  the  case  cited  (191 
N.  Y.,  123),  it  was  contended  that  in  order  to  justify  delegation 
of  legislative  power  to  a  commission,  the  statute  must  prescribe 
some  standard  to  govern  the  action  of  the  commission,  and  that  the 
statute  prescribed  no  such  standard.  But  it  was  held  that  a  pro- 
vision allowing  the  commission  to  fix  the  rates  "  within  the  limits 
prescribed  by  law  "  was  sufficient,  because 

"  The  common  law  prescribes  the  rule  that  the  rate  shall 
be  reasonable,  and,  I  think,  even  without  special  mention, 
the  statute  would  necessarily  imply  the  same  limitation." 

This  sole  standard  that  the  rates  should  be  reasonable  read  into 
the  statute  by  implication  was  held  to  be  a  sufficient  declaration 
of  policy,  the  court  saying,  at  page  147: 

"  Indeed,  if  the  statute  assumed  to  fix  any  other  standard 
for  rates  than  that  they  should  be  reasonable,  we  think  it 
would  be  much  more  open  to  attack  than  in  its  present  form. 
The  law  maker  might  exhaust  reflection  and  ingenuity  in  the 
attempt  to  state  all  the  elements  which  affect  the  reasonable- 
ness of  a  rate  only  to  find  that  in  a  particular  case  he  had 
omitted  the  factor  which  controlled  the  disposition  of  that 
case." 

It  is  no  easier  task  to  prescribe  in  advance  the  standard  of 
safety  for  the  health  and  welfare  of  employees  under  all  circum- 
stances than  to  declare  the  reasonable  rate  in  all  cases. 

The  court  quoted,  with  approval,  the  following  from  the  opinion 
of  Mr.  Justice  White  in  Atlantic  Coast  Line  v.  North  Carolina, 
206  U.  S.,  1: 

"  The  elementary  proposition  that  railroads,  from  the 
public  nature  of  the  business  by  them  carried  on  and  the 
interest  which  the  public  have  in  their  operation,  are  subject, 
as  to  their  state  business,  to  state  regulation  which  may  be 
exerted,  either  directly  by  the  legislative  authority  or  by 
administrative  bodies  endowed  with  power  to  that  end,  is  not 
and  could  not  be  successfully  questioned  in  view  of  the  long 
line  of  authorities  sustaining  that  doctrine." 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  37 

In  principle  it  would  seem  that  this  is  equally  true  of  any  kind 
of  business  of  sufficient  public  concern  to  call  for  detailed  statutory 
regulation. 

Perhaps  the  most  recent  declaration  of  the  United  States  Su- 
preme Court  on  this  point  is  contained  in  Interstate  Commission 
vs.  Goodrich,  224  U.  S.,  194,  where  the  Court  says  at  pages  214- 
215: 

"  The  Congress  may  not  delegate  its  purely  legislative 
power  to  a  commission,  but,  having  laid  down  the  general 
rules  of  action  under  which  a  commission  shall  proceed,  it 
may  require  of  that  commission  the  application  of  such  rules 
to  particular  situations  and  the  investigation  of  facts,  with 
a  view  to  making  orders  in  a  particular  matter  within  the 
rules  laid  down  by  Congress.  This  rule  has  been  frequently 
stated  and  illustrated  in  recent  cases  in  this  court  and  needs 
no  amplification  here." 

The  court  there  sustained  a  provision  of  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Act  empowering  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  to 
prescribe  the  forms  of  accounts  and  records  to  be  kept  by  common 
carriers. 

The  basis  of  the  proposed  enactment  may  be  thus  summed  up : 
The  protection  of  the  health  and  safety  of  workers  is  one  of  the 
highest  concerns  of  the  state ;  it  is  impossible  to  prepare  a  statute 
which  shall  provide  in  advance  rules  for  such  protection  in  every 
industry  and  under  all  circumstances ;  such  rules  can  be  formulated 
only  as  necessity  therefor  is  manifested,  by  a  body  competent  to 
investigate  each  situation  and  to  establish  the  requirements  neces- 
sary to  meet  it.  Under  these  circumstances  the  legislature  is  not 
powerless  to  remedy  the  many  existing  evils,  but  may  write  into 
the  statute  its  policy  of  protecting  persons  employed  at  labor  in 
every  industry  by  reasonable  and  adequate  means,  and  may  leave 
to  an  administrative  board  to  determine,  after  inquiry,  the 
necessary  and  adequate  means  in  each  case. 

THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR 

We  have  thus  provided  for  the  adoption  of  rules  and  regulations 
and  for  a  flexible  and  elastic  industrial  code  readily  adaptable  to 
the  varying  conditions  in  the  different  industries  so  that  the  De- 

160266 


38  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

partment  of  Labor  will  be  able  to  keep  pace  with  the  changes 
that  are  constantly  taking  place  in  industry.  It  is  necessary  in 
addition  to  give  the  department  an  adequate  number  of  field  in- 
spectors, and  to  increase  its  trained  and  expert  staff  so  that  the 
law  may  be  effectively  and  intelligently  enforced. 

SALARY  OF  COMMISSIONER  OF  LABOR 

As  stated,  we  believe  that  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  should 
be  the  head  of  the  department  and  solely  responsible  for  the  en- 
forcement of  the  labor  law  and  the  industrial  code.  The  present 
salary  of  the  commissioner  is  $5,500  a  year.  This  we  believe  to 
be  inadequate  compensation  for  the  important  and  arduous  duties 
performed  by  him.  The  salary  of  the  commissioner  should  be 
enough  to  attract  to  the  position  one  who  has  the  ability,  experi- 
ence, executive  control,  and  board  outlook  which  this  responsible 
office  demands.  At  the  same  time,  however,  we  must  take  into 
consideration  the  fact  that  the  office  carries  with  it  honor  and 
distinction,  and  opportunity  for  public  service. 

In  fixing  the  amount  that  we  believe  the  commissioner  ought  to 
receive,  we  have  carefully  considered  the  salaries  paid  in  the  fed- 
eral and  state  service  and  have  concluded  that  he  should  receive  at 
least  $8,000  a  year.  A  RTew  York  public  service  commissioner  re- 
ceives $15,000  a  year.  It  cannot  be  questioned,  therefore,  that  the 
head  of  a  department  so  important  as  this  is  to  the  state,  should 
receive  about  half  that  amount. 

BUREAUS 

The  Department  of  Labor  has  now  five  bureaus:  factory  in- 
spection; labor  statistics;  mediation  and  arbitration;  industries 
and  immigration,  and  mercantile  inspection.  We  believe  it  un- 
wise to  have  separate  bureaus  of  factory  and  mercantile  inspection. 
All  inspection  work  should  be  centralized  in  one  bureau,  under 
one  head. 

We  therefore  recommend  that  instead  of  separate  bureaus  of 
factory  and  mercantile  inspection,  there  be  one  bureau  of  inspec- 
tion. The  other  bureaus  mentioned  should  be  continued  and  pro- 
vision should  be  made  for  the  creation  of  such  additional  bureaus 
as  the  commissioner  deems  advisable. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  39 

BUREAU  OF  INSPECTION 

The  bureau  of  inspection,  subject  to  the  supervision  and  direc- 
tion of  the  commissioner  should  have  charge  of  all  inspections. 
The  first  deputy  commissioner  should  be  the  inspector  general  of 
the  state  in  charge  of  the  bureau  of  inspection  and  should  receive 
a  salary  of  $5,000  a  year.  The  chief  factory  inspector  now  in 
charge  of  factory  inspection  only,  receives  $4,000  a  year. 

The  bureau  of  inspection  should  have  four  divisions:  factory 
inspection;  homework  inspection;  mercantile  inspection,  and  in- 
dustrial hygiene.  The  division  of  industrial  hygiene  referred  to 
in  detail  hereafter  should  be  under  the  immediate  charge  of  the 
commissioner  himself. 

Division  of  Factory  Inspection 

There  is  now  a  chief  factory  inspector  in  charge  of  the  in- 
spection of  factories  for  the  entire  state.  The  majority  of  wage 
earners  are  in  New  York  City.  The  census  of  1910  showed  that 
more  than  one-half  of  the  state's  population  was  located  in  that 
city. 

Many  appearing  before  us  urged  a  separate  department  of  labor 
for  New  York  City.  We  believe,  however,  that  uniformity  in  the 
administration  of  the  labor  law  is  essential  and  that  it  is  the  best  to 
have  the  Department  of  Labor  exercise  jurisdiction  over  the  entire 
state.  We  believe  that  factory  inspection  both  in  New  York  City 
and  in  the  remainder  of  the  state  will  be  considerably  improved 
if,  for  the  purposes  of  such  inspection,  the  state  is  divided  into 
two  inspection  districts  to  be  known  as  the  first  factory  inspection 
district  and  the  second  factory  inspection  district.  The  first  dis- 
trict should  include  New  York  City  and  the  counties  of  the  Bronx, 
Nassau  and  Suffolk,  and  the  second  district  all  other  counties. 
Each  inspection  district  should  be  in  charge  of  a  chief  factory 
inspector  who  should  receive  a  $4,000  salary.  The  creation  of 
two  factory  inspection  districts  will  tend  to  greater  concentration 
in  the  work  of  inspection  and  consequently  to  beneficial  results. 

Number  of  Inspectors 

The  present  force  of  field  inspectors  engaged  in  the  inspection 
of  factories  is  inadequate ;  this  is  the  opinion  of  all  appearing  be- 


40  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

fore  the  Commission.  There  are  at  present  81  factory  inspectors 
who  may  be  called  field  inspectors,  21  of  whom  receive  $1,500  a 
year  salary  and  the  remainder  $1,200  each  annually.  A  number 
of  these  81  field  inspectors  are  assigned  to  home  work  inspection; 
that  is,  to  the  supervision  of  manufacturing  carried  on  in  tene- 
ment homes  in  the  larger  cities. 

It  need  not  occasion  surprise  that  with  a  force  of  inspectors  so 
plainly  inadequate,  inspections  of  factories  are  infrequent,  and 
that  the  law  dealing  with  the  health  and  safety  of  employees  in 
factories  is  not  enforced  as  effectively  as  it  should  be.  The  sugges- 
tions received  by  the  Commission  as  to  an  increase  in  the  number 
of  field  inspectors  vary  greatly.  It  has  been  urged  that  we  recom- 
mend as  many  as  300  field  inspectors. 

The  present  law  provides  for  not  more  than  125  factory  in- 
spectors, including  supervising  inspectors  and  inspectors  of 
technical  and  scientific  experience.  We  recommend  that  there 
shall  be  not  less  than  125  factory  inspectors  of  all  grades  in  the 
division  of  factory  inspection,  of  whom  not  more  than  30  shall 
be  women.  This  would  leave  110  inspectors  of  the  first,  second, 
third  and  fourth  grades  for  actual  field  work.  Of  these  at  least 
15  should  be  assigned  to  the  division  of  homework  inspection, 
leaving  95  field  inspectors  for  factory  inspection  exclusively. 
The  present  law  provides  for  only  two  grades*  of  field  inspectors, 
those  receiving  annual  salaries  of  $1,200  and  $1,500  respectively. 
Such  salaries  do  not  induce  any  man  with  technical  training 
to  enter  the  department  or  to  remain  there  for  any  length  of  time. 
There  should  be  opportunity  for  promotion  based  upon  merit 
solely,  that  is,  upon  the  length  and  character  of  service  rendered, 
and  ability  as  evidenced  by  a  comprehensive  written  and  oral  ex- 
amination, not  the  mere  perfunctory  promotion  examination  now 
resorted  to. 

We  recommend  the  following  grades  of  inspectors  to  do  field 
work: 

Grade.         Number  of  Inspectors         Salary. 
First.  Not  more  than  95  $1,200 

Second.         "      "          "     50  1,500 

Third.  "      "          "     25  1,800 

Fourth.         "      "          "     10  2,000 

*  There  is  a  $1.000  grade,  but   that  has   been  abandoned  in  actual  practice. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  41 

An  opportunity  thus  will  be  given  for  advancement  and  men 
of  ability  and  experience  will  be  attracted  to  the  work. 

Division  of  Homework  Inspection 

The  conditions  under  which  manufacturing  is  carried  on  in  the 
tenement  homes  in  New  York  City  and  other  large  cities  is  of 
vital  concern,  not  only  to  those  directly  engaged  in  it,  but  to  the 
public  generally  which  uses  the  goods  thus  manufactured.  We 
shall  refer  to  this  subject  in  detail  later  in  our  report.*  In  this 
connection  however,  we  recommend  that  a  separate  division  of 
homework  inspection  be  created  and  that  not  less  than  15  factory 
inspectors  be  detailed  to  this  division,  so  that  the  law  prohibiting 
manufacturing  in  an  unsanitary  tenement  house,  and  whatever 
measures  the  legislature  may  adopt  to  prohibit  the  employment 
of  young  children  in  that  work,  may  be  effectively  enforced. 

Division  of  Mercantile  Inspection 

The  jurisdiction  of  the  department  over  mercantile  establish- 
ments and  the  employment  of  women  and  children  in  them  in 
now  limited  to  the  cities  of  the  first  class,  New  York,  Buffalo,  and 
Rochester.  Elsewhere  in  the  state  the  mercantile  law  (article 
11  of  the  labor  law)  is  enforced  by  the  local  departments  of  health. 
In  cities  of  the  first  class  the  bureau  of  mercantile  inspection  is 
charged  with  the  duty  of  enforcing  this  law. 

The  bureau  is  in  charge  of  a  mercantile  inspector  who  has  9 
deputy  mercantile  inspectors  under  his  supervision.  The  mer- 
cantile inspector  receives  $3,000  salary  and  the  deputy  mercantile 
inspectors  each  receive  $1,200  salary.  This  force  is  in- 
adequate to  inspect  the  many  mercantile  establishments  in 
cities  of  the  first  class  alone.  Inspections  are  very  infrequent. 
The  mercantile  inspector  testified  that  many  stores  in  cities 
of  the  first  class  had  not  been  inspected  in  four  years.  The  per- 
centage of  illegal  child  labor  is  as  a  result  much  greater  in  mer- 
cantile establishments  than  in  factories.  Since  most  of  the 
employees  in  mercantile  establishments  are  women,  the  necessity 
is  apparent  for  frequent  inspection  to  determine  whether  the 
laws  relating  to  sanitary  conditions  and  hours  of  labor  are  being 

*  See  Manufacturing  in   Tenements,    Appendix  IV,  Volume  II. 


42  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

observed.  Factory  work  is  carried  on  in  most  of  the  department 
stores.  Formerly  where  this  was  done  a  separate  inspection  was 
made  by  a  factory  inspector  but  now  a  mercantile  inspector  must 
cover  the  entire  ground. 

Conditions  in  Second  Class  Cities 

The  jurisdiction  over  mercantile  establishments  in  second-class 
cities  is  conferred  by  law  upon  the  local  boards  of  health.  The 
mercantile  law  applies  to  every  town  having  a  population  of  more 
than  3,000,  and  theoretically  mercantile  inspection  ought  to  be 
state-wide  as  is  factory  inspection.  But  the  enormous  expenditure 
this  would  involve  makes  it  inadvisable  to  extend  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  department,  over  the  entire  state.  We  believe,  however, 
that  it  is  imperative  for  the  department  to  assume  jurisdiction 
over  mercantile  establishments  in  cities  of  the  second  class  where 
thousands  of  women  and  children  are  employed  in  department 
and  other  stores.  These  establishments  now  receive  practically 
no  supervision. 

The  Commission's  investigation  into  this  subject  showed  that 
the  local  health  departments  in  second  class  cities  were  very  lax 
in  their  inspection  of  mercantile  establishments.  In  not  one  of 
the  second  class  cities  has  this  subject  been  considered  of  sufficient 
importance  to  have  a  single  inspector  devote  all  of  his  time  to 
that  work.  The  usual  plan  seems  to  be  to  assign  to  the  regular 
sanitary  inspectors  in  the  employ  of  the  department  of  health,  the 
duty  of  inspecting  mercantile  establishments  in  addition  to  all 
their  other  duties  relating  to  contagious  diseases,  sanitation  and 
plumbing.  As  might  be  expected,  the  actual  amount  of  time  de- 
voted to  mercantile  establishments  is  very  small.  The  statement 
of  one  official  that  inspectors  visit  mercantile  establishments 
"  when  they  haven't  anything  else  to  do,"  probaly  represents 
actual  conditions  in  more  than  one  of  these  cities.  In  half  of  the 
second-class  cities,  mercantile  establishments  are  visited  only 
when  a  specific  complaint  comes  to  the  health  officer.  As  a  re- 
sult of  this  practice  no  one  can  tell  how  many  violations  of  law 
actually  exist.  Even  more  surprising  is  the  following  statement 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  43 

made  to  the  Commission  by  the  health  officer  in  one  of  the  large 
second-class  cities  of  the  state : 

"  I  would  say  that  this  department  has  made  no  inspections 
of  mercantile  establishments  as  to  the  employment  of  women 
and  children.  I  had  supposed  that  such  inspections  were 
under  the  supervision  of  the  mercantile  and  factory  inspec- 
tors. The  health  officers  who  have  preceded  me  have  not 
made  such  inspections  and  were  like  myself  not  aware  of 
section  172  of  the  labor  law." 

A  striking  indication  of  the  failure  to  give  serious  attention 
to  this  subject  is  the  fact  that  prosecutions  are  very  rarely  insti- 
tuted in  any  of  the  second-class  cities  against  employers 
found  violating  the  mercantile  law,  while  in  Buffalo  and 
Rochester  the  mercantile  inspectors  of  the  labor  department  pre- 
sented to  the  courts  136  cases  for  prosecution  during  the  year  end- 
ing September  30,  1911. 

We  recommend  therefore : 

1.  That  there  be  a  division  of  mercantile  inspection  in  the 
bureau  of  inspection  of  the  department  as  heretofore  suggested, 
instead  of  a  separate  bureau. 

2.  That  the  division  be  in  charge  of  a  chief  mercantile  inspec- 
tor who  shall  receive  as  at  present  a  salary  of  $3,000.     That  the 
number  of  mercantile  inspectors  be  increased  from  10  to  20,  of 
whom  not  less  than  4  shall  be  women.     The  mercantile  inspectors 
shall  be  divided  into  three  grades,  but  not  more  than  five  shall  be 
of  the  third  grade.     Each  mercantile  inspector  of  the  first  grade 
shall  receive  an  annual  salary  of  $1,000 ;  each  of  the  second  grade 
an  annual  salary  of  $1,200,  and  each  of  the  third  grade  an  annual 
salary  of  $1,500. 

3.  That  the  jurisdiction  of  the  department  over  mercantile  es- 
tablishments be  extended  to  cities  of  the  second  class. 

DIVISION  OF  INDUSTRIAL  HYGIENE 

The  lack  of  a  staff  of  trained  scientific  inspectors  has  always 
been  a  drawback  in  the  enforcement  of  the  labor  law.  It  was  not 
until  very  recently  that  a  mechanical  engineer  was  appointed,  who 
is  also  an  expert  on  accident  prevention.  He  receives  a  salary 
of  $3,500. 


44  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

For  some  years  past  there  has  been  a  medical  inspector  of  fac- 
tories who  has  devoted  himself  to  an  investigation  of  various 
forms  of  industrial  poisoning  and  has  made  special  inspections, 
but  has  obviously  been  unable  to  cover  the  ground  alone.  He  re- 
ceives a  salary  of  $2,400,  which  in  our  opinion  is  too  low  for  the 
work  expected  of  him. 

We  recommend  that  there  be  not  less  than  four  inspectors  of 
the  seventh  grade,  one  of  whom  shall  be  a  physician  who  shall  be 
the  chief  medical  inspector,  one  a  mechanical  engineer  who  shall 
be  an  expert  on  accident  prevention  and  ventilation,  one  a  chemi- 
cal engineer,  and  one  a  civil  engineer  who  shall  be  an  expert  on 
fire  prevention  and  building  construction.  Each  of  these  inspec- 
tors should  receive  an  annual  salary  of  $3,500.  In  order  to  work 
effectively,  this  expert  group  of  inspectors  should  be  placed  in  one 
division  to  be  known  as  the  division  of  industrial  hygiene,  to  be 
under  the  immediate  charge  of  the  commissioner  who  may,  how- 
ever, select  one  of  the  group  to  act  as  director  of  the  division. 
This  director  shall  receive  additional  compensation  of  $500  an- 
nually while  performing  the  duties  of  that  office. 

There  will  thus  be  created  within  the  department  an  expert 
group  of  inspectors  of  scientific  training  who  will  perform  the 
following  duties: 

1.  Make  inspections,  highly  technical  in  character,  of  factories, 
mercantile  establishments,  and  other  places  subject  to  the  labor 
law. 

2.  Conduct  special  investigations  of  industrial  processes  and 
conditions  with  a  view  to  recommending  the  adoption  or  modi- 
fication of  standards,   rules,   and  regulations  by  the  industrial 
board. 

3.  Prepare  material  for  leaflets  and  bulletins  calling  atten- 
tion to  dangers  in  particular  industries  and  precautions  to  be 
taken  to  avoid  them. 

This  division  will  act  as  an  expert  investigating  body  on  the 
subjects  of  industrial  poisioning  and  diseases,  dangerous  trades, 
prevention  of  accidents,  ventilation,  lighting  and  have  charge  of 
many  other  problems  of  sanitation  and  safety,  which  for  their 
proper  solution  require  the  careful,  scientific  study  of  experts.  To 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  45 

leave  such  important  matters  to  the  ordinary  field  inspector  as  has 
been  done  heretofore,  is  a  waste  of  time  and  money  and  is  pro- 
ductive of  no  results.  Neither  the  manufacturer  nor  the  employee 
is  benefited  thereby.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  also  that  the 
necessity  for  careful  supervision  is  greatest  in  those  very  trades 
and  occupations  in  which  conditions  are  presented  that  are  beyond 
the  comprehension  of  an  ordinary  inspector. 

Section  of  Medical  Inspection 

It  is  essential  that  a  study  be  made  of  the  effects  of  different 
occupations  upon  the  health  of  workers.  The  subject  of  occu- 
pational diseases,  although  one  of  much  importance,  has  been 
entirely  neglected  in  this  state. 

We  would  therefore  recommend  that  there  be  attached  to  the  di- 
vision of  industrial  hygiene  a  section  of  medical  inspection,  to  be 
made  up  of  the  chief  medical  inspector,  in  charge,  and  three  in- 
spectors of  the  6th  grade,  at  least  one  of  whom  shall  be  a  woman 
and  each  of  whom  shall  receive  $2,500  salary  annually.  Such 
inspectors  shall  be  physicians  duly  licensed  to  practice  medicine  in 
this  state. 

The  section  of  medical  inspection  shall  inspect  factories,  mer- 
cantile establishments,  and  other  places  subject  to  the  provisions 
of  the  labor  law  with  respect  to  conditions  of  work  affecting  the 
health  of  persons  employed,  and  shall  have  charge  of  the  physical 
examination  and  medical  supervision  of  children  employed. 

BUKEAU  OF  STATISTICS  AND  INFOBMATION 

The  bureau  of  labor  statistics  was  founded  as  an  independent 
office  in  1883  to 

"  collect,  assort,  systematize,  and  present  in  annual  reports 
to  the  legislature,  statistical  details  in  relation  to  all  depart- 
ments of  labor  in  the  state,  especially  in  relation  to  the 
commercial,  industrial,  social,  and  sanitary  condition  of 
workingmen  and  to  the  productive  industries  of  the  state."  * 

In  actual  practice,  however,  the  work  of  the  bureau  was  never 
confined  to  strictly  statistical  work.  The  bureau  published  all 

*  Labor  Law,   J  55. 


46  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

kinds  of  information  concerning  labor  and  acted  as  a  general 
information  bureau  on  everything  relating  to  labor  conditions. 
As  long  as  it  remained  an  independent  department,  its  informa- 
tion was  collected  entirely  by  its  own  research  and  investigations. 
In  1901  the  bureau  of  labor  statistics  was  consolidated  with  the 
office  of  factory  inspector  and  the  bureau  of  mediation  and  arbi- 
tration, then  in  existence,  to  form  the  present  Department  of 
Labor.  Since  it  became  a  branch  of  the  department  of  labor,  the 
bureau  of  statistics  has  acted  in  a  dual  capacity ;  ( 1 )  as  an  inde- 
pendent investigator  and  (2)  as  the  statistical  and  publication 
office  for  the  other  bureaus  of  the  department.  In  its  first  capac- 
ity as  an  independent  investigator  the  bureau  has  conducted  in- 
vestigations and  gathered  information  and  data  on  its  own  account 
from  time  to  time  and  published  the  results  in  its  annual  report 
to  the  legislature  and  in  the  quarterly  bulletin  of  the  department. 
In  its  second  capacity  it  has  taken  care  of  the  following  matters : 

1.  The  preparation  and  publication  of  information  and  sta- 
tistics received  through  the  other  bureaus. 

2.  The  preparation  and  publication  of  statistics  concerning  the 
work  done  by  the  different  bureaus  and  published  in  their  reports. 

3.  The  supervision  of  the  printing  and  distribution  of  all  of 
the  reports  issued  at  different  times  by  the  department. 

This  statistical  and  publication  work  for  the  other  bureaus  has 
grown  so  constantly  during  the  past  few  years  that  it  has  practi- 
cally absorbed  all  the  resources  of  this  bureau.  The  result  has 
been  that  the  bureau  has  been  unable  to  do  very  much  independ- 
ent work  in  a  very  wide  field  of  economic  and  social  research  not 
connected  with  the  functions  of  the  other  bureaus,  but  concern- 
ing which  there  is  constant  demand  for  public  information 
frequently  with  a  view  to  legislation.  An  important  example  of 
this  need  for  research  is  the  question  of  the  extent  of  seven-day 
labor  in  this  state,  and  the  effect  of  a  one-day  rest  in  seven  re- 
quirement, which  is  now  being  much  advocated. 

The  recommendations  which  we  have  made  for  reorganizing  the 
other  bureaus  of  the  department,  the  extension  of  inspection 
work,  and  the  broadening  of  such  work  in  the  direction  of  special 
investigations  by  the  division  of  industrial  hygiene,  will  enor- 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  47 

mously  increase  the  work  of  the  bureau  of  statistics.  This  bu- 
reau will  be  a  most  important  one,  since  it  is  to  be  the  publicity 
bureau  of  the  department,  that  is,  the  bureau  which  shall  dissemi- 
nate among  the  employers  and  employees  the  information  gathered 
from  investigations  made  by  the  other  bureaus  and  divisions. 
The  bureau  will  have  charge  of  the  printing  and  distribution  of 
the  many  bulletins  and  pamphlets  to  be  issued  from  time  to  time 
concerning  the  prevention  of  accidents  and  industrial  diseases. 
It  will  have  to  prepare  many  of  these  bulletins  or  collaborate  with 
officals  in  other  bureaus  in  their  preparation.  It  will  be  the  bu- 
reau of  information  and  education. 

As  a  foundation  for  the  increased  and  important  work  this 
bureau  will  have  to  perform  we  recommend  the  following  changes 
in  the  present  law  relating  to  it: 

1.  The  title  of  the  bureau  should  be  changed  from  the  bureau 
of  labor  statistics  to  the  bureau  of  statistics  and  information. 
The  proposed  title  indicates  its  true  function. 

2.  There  shall  be  the  following  divisions  in  the  bureau  of 
statistics  and  information: 

(1)  The  division  of  general  labor  statistics  which  shall  collect 
and  prepare  statistics  and  general  information  in  relation  to  con- 
ditions of  labor  and  the  industries  of  the  state. 

(2)  The  division  of  industrial  directory  which  shall  prepare 
the  industrial  directory  provided  for  in  section  forty-nine  of  the 
labor  law. 

(3)  The  division  of  industrial  accidents  and  diseases  which 
shall  collect,  and  prepare  statistical  details  and  general  informa- 
tion regarding  industrial  accidents  and  occupational  diseases,  their 
causes  and  effects,  and  methods  of  preventing,  curing,  and  remedy- 
ing them,  and  of  providing  compensation  therefor. 

(4)  The  division  of  investigations  which  shall  have  charge 
of  all  investigations  and  research  work  relating  to  economic  and 
social  conditions  of  labor  conducted  by  the  bureau. 

(5)  The   division   of  printing   and    publication   which   shall 
print,  publish  and  disseminate  such  information  and  statistics  as 
the  Commissioner  of  Labor  may  direct  for  the  purpose  of  pro- 
moting the  health,  safety,  and  well-being  of  industrial  workers. 


48  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

Prompt  Publication  of  Reports 

The  only  publication  now  required  by  law  from  the  bureau  of 
labor  statistics  is  an  annual  report  to  the  legislature.  The  law 
should  be  amended  so  as  to  provide  for  the  publication  of  special 
reports,  bulletins,  and  leaflets  directly  by  the  bureau.  Annual 
reports,  owing  to  the  time  required  for  their  preparation  at  the 
close  of  the  year,  are  practically  useless  for  prompt  publication 
of  information,  and  are  valuable  mainly  as  the  means  of  printing 
detailed  information  for  future  reference. 

With  the  exception  of  an  annual  report  by  the  head  of  the 
bureau  to  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  on  the  administration  of 
the  bureau,  the  stereotyped  form  of  annual  reports  should  be  re- 
placed by  the  publication  of  special  reports,  bulletins  or  pamphlets 
on  particular  subjects.  That  is  being  done  with  success  in 
the  Federal  Bureau  of  Labor. 

COUNSEL  TO  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR 

The  counsel  to  the  department  now  receives  an  annual  salary 
of  $3,000.  His  work  will  be  largely  increased  because  of  duties 
connected  with  the  Industrial  Board  for  which  he  is  to  act  as 
counsel  without  any  additional  compensation.  We  therefore 
recommend  that  his  salary  be  increased  to  $4,000  a  year.  We 
also  recommend  that  there  be  at  least  one  assistant  to  the  counsel 
assigned  for  up-state  work.  There  is  at  present  no  counsel  to 
represent  the  department  in  prosecutions  instituted  in  cities 
up-state  for  violation  of  the  provisions  of  the  labor  law.  The 
counsel  now  confines  his  activities  practically  to  New  York  City 
alone.  The  result  has  been  that  in  other  parts  of  the  state  prose- 
cutions are  not  instituted  so  often  and  are  not  pushed  so  effectively 
and  vigorously  as  they  should  be.  This  is  particularly  true  in 
cases  involving  violations  of  the  child  labor  law.* 

MISCELLANEOUS  RECOMMENDATIONS 

Pensions  for  Inspectors 

The  work  of  an  inspector  is  arduous.  It  involves  physical  and 
mental  strain  and  we  believe  that  the  state  ought  to  establish  a 
system  of  disability  and  old-age  pensions  for  the  inspectors  in 

»  See   Bill   1,  Appendix  I,   for  provisions   dealing  with   the   reorganization   of   the 
Labor  Department. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  49 

the  department.  We  have  not  had  sufficient  opportunity  to 
examine  this  subject  as  fully  as  is  necessary  in  order  to  present 
detailed  recommendations,  but  we  suggest  that  it  be  carefully 
investigated  by  the  Commissioner  with  a  view  to  remedial 
legislation. 

The  necessity  for  such  pensions  is  strikingly  emphasized  by  the 
fact  that  there  are  in  the  department  5  veterans  of  the  civil  war 
between  60  and  75  years  of  age  acting  as  factory  inspectors. 
These  men  should  not  be  allowed  to  continue  at  work  which  is 
beyond  their  physical  strength,  but  should  be  taken  care  of  by 
the  state. 

Examinations  for  Inspectors 

The  present  civil  service  examinations  for  the  position  of 
factory  inspector  are  in  our  opinion  inadequate.  The  examination 
should  be  made  more  practical.  The  written  examination  should 
be  supplemented  by  an  oral  examination  to  be  conducted  before 
a  group  of  examiners  and  taken  down  in  shorthand.  Only  those, 
however,  who  have  successfully  passed  the  written  test  should  be 
permitted  to  take  the  oral  examination. 

Methods  of  Inspection 

We  shall  not  go  into  details  in  connection  with  the  methods  of 
inspection  but  simply  point  out  some  objectionable  features  that 
may  be  readily  eliminated  by  the  administrative  head  of  the  de- 
partment. The  first  is  the  practice  of  assigning  an  inspector 
to  the  city  or  locality  in  which  he  lives  and  where  he  has  been  in 
many  cases  a  life-long  resident  and  of  keeping  him  there  perma- 
mently.  Our  investigations  have  shown  that  this  practice  has  led  to 
many  abuses.  It  simply  adds  another  embarrassment  to  the  many 
difficulties  an  inspector  must  overcome.  We  believe  that  when- 
ever it  is  practicable,  inspectors  should  be  shifted  from  one  district 
to  another.  At  any  rate  it  is  unwise  and  also  injurious  to  the 
service  to  keep  one  inspector  in  his  home  town  for  years  at  a 
time  unless  an  outside  inspector  checks  up  his  work. 

One  of  the  most  troublesome  features  in  connection  with  a 
factory  inspector's  duties  is  the  vast  amount  of  clerical  work  he  is 
called  upon  to  do.  Testimony  showed  that  this  clerical  work  took 
4 


50  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

up  about  one-half  of  the  working  day  of  the  average  field  inspector, 
naturally  curtailing  the  activities  of  the  inspector  in  his  true 
sphere,  namely,  that  of  inspection.  We  do  not  wish  to  detract 
from  the  value  of  accurate  and  comprehensive  statistics.  We 
realize  that  in  order  to  make  the  departmental  records  complete 
some  clerical  work  must  be  done  by  the  inspectors ;  but  that  they 
should  be  obliged  to  fill  out  and  often  recopy  the  multifarious 
cards  and  notices  brought  to  our  attention,  we  believe  unneces- 
sary, a  waste  of  the  inspector's  working  powers  and  an  impair- 
ment of  the  efficiency  of  the  entire  department. 

Offices  for  the  Department  of  Labor 

The  Commission  has  personally  visited  the  offices  of  the  depart- 
ment in  Albany  and  New  York  City.  Both  officies,  particularly 
the  one  in  Albany  are  entirely  inadequate  for  the  required  work. 
For  the  greater  efficiency  of  the  office  force  and  of  the  depart- 
ment as  a  whole,  we  urge  that  the  department  be  given  at  an  early 
date  improved  and  suitable  office  facilities. 

The  Posting  of  Abstracts  of  the  Labor  Law 

At  present  abstracts  of  the  labor  law  are  posted  in  the  English 
language.  In  that  form  they  are  of  no  value  to  foreigners,  who 
are  employed  in  large  numbers  in  our  factories,  and  are  unable  to 
read  the  language.  We  therefore  recommend  that  digests  of  the 
labor  law  and  of  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  industrial  board 
applicable  to  any  particular  establishment  be  posted  in  English 
and  in  such  other  languages  as  the  commissioner  may  direct. 

Penalties  for  Violation  of  the  Labor  Law 

We  have  no  recommendations  to  make  at  this  time  for  any 
change  in  the  present  penalties  for  violation  of  the  provisions  of 
the  labor  law  prescribed  in  section  1275  of  the  penal  law.  We 
do  suggest,  however,  that  this  section  of  the  penal  law  be  amended 
so  as  to  provide  a  penalty  for  the  violation  of  any  provision  of 
the  labor  law  instead  of  referring  in  detail  to  the  different  por- 
tions of  the  law.  We  submit  a  bill  for  that  purpose.* 

*Bill  ,  Appendix  I- 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  51 

SUMMARY 

The  changes  we  have  recommended  in  the  organization  of  the 
labor  department  include  the  following: 

1.  The  creation  of  an  industrial  board  to  prescribe  regulations 
which  shall  make  effectual  the  provisions  of  the  labor  law  for  the 
protection  of  the  lives,  health  and  safety  of  workers,  and  to  act 
as  a  permanent  investigating  board. 

2.  An  increase  in  the  commissioner's  salary  from  $5,500  to 
$8,000  a  year. 

3.  The  creation  of  a  bureau  of  inspection  in  charge  of  an  in- 
spector general  so  that  all  inspection  work  may  bo  centralized  in 
one  bureau  under  one  head. 

4.  The  creation  of  two  factory  inspection  districts,  one  for 
Xew  York  City  and  its  vicinity  and  the  other  for  the  remainder 
of  the  State,  so  that  there  may  be  greater  concentration  in  inspec- 
tion work,  and  so  that  each  district  may  receive  the  undivided 
attention  of  a  chief  factory  inspector. 

5.  An  increase  in  the  number  of  factory  inspectors  for  field 
work  from  81  to  110.     The  establishment  of  $1,800  and  $2,000 
grades  for  inspectors  so  that  there  may  be  an  opportunity  for  pro- 
motion and  men  of  technical  training  induced  to  enter  the  service. 

6.  A  division  of  homework  inspection  to  which  fifteen  factory 
inspectors  shall  be  detailed,  in  charge  of  manufacturing  in  tene- 
ment houses. 

7.  The  extension  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  department  over 
mercantile  establishments  to  cities  of  the  second  class  and  an  in- 
crease in  mercantile  inspectors  from  10  to  20. 

8.  A  division  of  industrial  hygiene  composed  of  an  expert 
staff  of  inspectors  to  be  a  permanent  expert  investigating  body 
within  the  department. 

9.  A   section  of  medical   inspection   to  have   charge  of   the 
physical  examination  and  medical  supervision  of  children  em- 
ployed in  factories  and  mercantile  establishments  and  to  inspect 
such  establishments  as  to  conditions  affecting  the  health  of  the 
workers. 


52  REPORT  or  COMMISSION. 

10.  An  enlargement  of  the  functions  of  the  bureau  of  statistics 
and  information. 

We  have  confined  our  recommendations  to  minimum  require- 
ments for  a  well-organized  and  efficient  department  of  labor  such 
as  the  State  of  New  York  should  have;  a  department  affording 
to  the  working  people  the  protection  and  supervision  they  have 
failed  to  receive  in  the  past  and  to  which  they  are  entitled.  "We 
believe  that  the  measures  recommended  will  result  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  department  adequately  equipped  to  cope  with  the 
complex  problems  of  sanitation  and  safety  in  industry;  one  that 
will  wield  a  strong  educational  influence  and  secure  a  closer 
co-operation  and  more  friendly  relation  between  employers  and 
employees,  and,  finally,  one  that  will  be  an  important  factor  in 
conserving  life  in  industry  and  in  preventing  and  minimizing  in- 
dustrial accidents  and  disease. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  53 

II. 

THE  FIRE  PROBLEM 

Among  the  important  problems  this  country  must  solve,  and  to 
which  but  scant  attention  has  been  paid  in  recent  years,  are  those 
of  "  fire  prevention  "  and  "  fire  protection." 

The  annual  fire  losses  in  this  country  are  large,  and  increas- 
ing at  such  a  rate,  that  action  should  be  taken  at  once  to  cause  ma- 
terial reduction  in  this  heavy  charge  imposed  upon  the  country's 
resources. 

During  the  thirty-five  years  between  1875  and  1909,  the  total 
value  of  property  destroyed  in  the  United  States  by  fire  amounted 
to  $4,904,619,235.  In  1910  the  aggregate  property  loss  was  about 
$211,000,000,  and  in  1911  approximately  $217,000,000. 

Fire  losses  have  increased  steadily  year  after  year  in  greater 
proportion  than  the  growth  of  population. 

Hon.  Walter  L.  Fisher,  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  states  the 
situation  admirably:* 

"  If  the  Government  should  suddenly  lay  an  annual  tax 
of  $2.51  on  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  the  United 
States  on  a  promise  of  spending  the  money  for  some  useful 
purpose,  that  promise  would  not  avail  against  the  storm  of 
protest  which  would  be  aroused.  Nevertheless,  a  tax  which 
in  the  aggregate  amounts  to  that  is  being  paid  by  the  people 
of  this  country.  It  is  the  annual  fire  loss  of  the  nation,  upon 
buildings  and  their  contents  alone.  It  is  expended  not  in 
productive  enterprise,  but  in  death  and  destruction,  and  an 
even  larger  sum  is  annually  expended  upon  fire  protection 
and  insurance  premiums.  Not  only  is  this  property  loss 
paid  by  our  people,  but,  in  addition,  annually  1,500  persons 
give  up  their  lives  and  nearly  6,000  are  injured  in  fires. 

Possibly  in  no  other  direction  is  the  national  habit  of 
waste  more  clearly  exemplified  than  in  the  comparative  in- 
difference with  which  we  permit  such  a  sacrifice.  In  no 
other  civilized  country  are  conditions  so  bad  as  here. 

It  seems  ridiculous  that  a  people  so  apt  and  so  eager  to 
seek  out  and  destroy  the  mysterious  and  hidden  enemies  of 

*  Address  before  the  Fifteenth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  National  Fire  Pro- 
tection Association. 


54  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

mankind,  should  be  so  slow ,  and  sluggish  in  fighting  a  foe  so 
plainly  in  sight  and  so  readily  vanquished.  We  have  led  the 
world  in  seeking  out  the  causes  of  pestilence  and  removing 
them.  We  are  in  the  vanguard  of  the  battle  against  tuber- 
culosis, typhoid  and  yellow  fever,  and  still  we  stand  apart  and 
let  the  older  nations  lead  the  fight  against  an  enemy  much 
more  easily  conquered." 

That  this  tremendous  fire  waste  is  preventable,  is  clearly  shown 
by  a  comparsion  of  the  statistics  of  fire  losses  in  the  United  States 
with  those  of  European  countries: 

"  The  actual  fire  losses  due  to  destruction  of  buildings  and 
their  contents  amounted  in  1907  to  $215,084,709,  a  per 
capita  loss  for  the  United  States  of  $2.51.  The  per  capita 
losses  in  the  cities  of  the  six  leading  European  countries 
amounted  to  but  33  cents  or  about  one-eighth  of  the  per 
capita  loss  sustained  in  the  United  States." 

A  comparison  of  the  fire  losses  sustained  in  European  cities  in 
1904  and  in  cities  of  the  United  States  having  approximately  the 
same  population  in  1907,  shows  how  far  behind  we  are  in  the 
solution  of  the  fire  problem.  The  comparison  is  a  just  one,  al- 
though owing  to  the  absence  of  accurate  official  statistics,  the 
years  selected  are  not  the  same  for  both  countries. 

EUROPEAN  LOSSES  FOR  1904 

Per 

CITY.  Population.  Fire  loss,  capita. 

Paris,    France    2,714,068  $1,266,282  $0.47 

Frankfort,    Germany    324,500  99,492  0.31 

St.  Petersburg,  Russia 1,500,000  2,128,541  1.42 

Birmingham,   England    550,000  226,506  0.41 

Sheffield,    England   426,686  75,989  0.18 

Toulon,    France   101,602  55,391  0.55 

Bremen,   Germany       203,847  78,372  0.38 

Molenbeek,  Belgium   63,678  106,150  1.67 

Laeken,  Belgium  31,121  22,349  0.72 

Etterbeek,   Belgium   23,992  19,504  0.80 

UNITED  STATES  LOSSES  FOR  1907 


Chicago,    Illinois    

2,049,185 

$3,937,105 

$1.43 

Cincinnati,   Ohio  

345,230 

1,971,217 

5.70 

Philadelphia,    Pennsylvania    

,  1,441,737 

2,093,522 

1.45 

Baltimore,    Maryland    

553,669 

916,603 

1.66 

Cleveland,   Ohio   

460,000 

515,194 

1.12 

Atlanta,    Georgia    

,  104,984 

225,237 

2.15 

St.    Paul.    Minnesota  

204,000 

522,447 

2.56 

Evansville,    Indiana    

63,957 

196,702 

3.08 

Oshkosh.   Wisconsin   , 

,  31,033 

gO.  GOO 

2.59 

Easton,  Pennsylvania  

25,238 

32,073 

1.27 

•  Bulletin   418   of  the  United   States   Geological    Survey. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  55 

In  1911  New  York  City  had  324  fires  for  every  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants.  London  had  but  67  and  Paris,  152. 
London  in  1911  had  4,455  fires  but  its  loss  was  only  one-fifth  of 
that  in  New  York,  while  that  of  Paris  was  one-ninth. 

This  great  difference  between  the  fire  loss  in  the  United  States 
and  that  in  European  countries  is  strikingly  emphasized  when  we 
consider  that  in  European  cities  the  fire-fighting  equipment  and 
force  is  very  inadequate  in  comparison  with  ours. 

The  average  annual  cost  of  maintaining  fire  departments  in 
European  cities  is  20  cents  per  capita,  while  in  cities  of  corre- 
sponding population  in  the  United  States,  the  cost  is  $1.53  per 
capita ,  or  7M>  times  as  much. 

The  significant  fact  therefore  remains  that  our  losses  by  fire  in- 
crease steadily  every  year  despite  our  elaborate  and  expensive 
systems  of  fire-fighting  and  despite  the  fact  that  our  city  fire-fight- 
ing systems  are  the  best  in  the  world  both  as  to  equipment  and 
personnel. 

Not  only  does  this  wide  difference  exist  in  the  property  loss  by 
fire,  but  the  life  hazard  because  of  fire  is  greater  in  this  country 
than  in  European  countries.  Rarely  do  we  hear  of  a  fire  in  a 
European  city  in  which  life  is  lost.  Yet  testimony  has  been  given 
before  the  Commission  that  in  New  York  City  alone  there  is  an 
average  of  one  life  lost  daily  because  of  fire. 

In  our  building  construction,  although  some  attention  has  been 
paid  to  the  property  hazard,  albeit  with  comparatively  poor  re- 
sults as  we  have  seen,  practically  no  attention  has  been  paid  to  the 
life  hazard  in  factory  buildings  where  large  numbers  of  people 
congregate.  Architects,  engineers,  and  builders  have  designed  and 
constructed  buildings  without  giving  due  thought  or  considera- 
tion to  the  methods  of  escape  available  to  the  occupants  in  case 
of  fire. 

CAUSES  FOE  THE  DIFFERENCE  IN  FIBE  Loss 

The  main  causes  for  the  difference  between  the  fire  losses  in 
Europe  and  in  the  touted  States  are  the  following: 

1.  BUILDING  CONSTRUCTION  :  In  European  countries  practi- 
cally all  buildings  are  constructed  of  fire  resisting  materials. 
Frame  buildings  are  few  in  number  owing  to  the  high  price  and 


56  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

scarcity  of  timber.  In  the  United  States  the  conditions  have  been 

exactly  reversed.  Lumber,  at  least  until  recently,  has  been  the 

cheapest  material  besides  being  more  easily  worked  than  brick, 
stone,  or  steel. 

"  The  comparative  immunity  of  Berlin  from  disastrous 
fires  results  not  from  the  efficiency  of  its  fire  department — 
although  it  does  promptly  and  well  what  work  it  has  to  do — 
but  from  the  absence  of  wooden  houses  and  the  solid,  care- 
ful construction  of  all  kinds  of  stone  and  brick  buildings 
under  the  rigid  scrutiny  of  the  building  police."  * 

The  buildings  are  so  constructed  that  fire  is  confined  in  practi- 
cally every  case  to  a  single  floor  and  often  to  a  single  room. 

In  Vienna  it  was  reported  by  the  Consul  General : 

"  There  is  no  cause  known  in  this  city  where  a  fire  has 
extended  beyond  the  building  in  which  it  originated  and 
cases  are  hardly  ever  known  where  a  fire  extended  beyond  the 
floor  on  which  it  originated." 

2.  HEIGHT  OF  THE  BUILDINGS  :    In  many  European  countries 
the  height  of  buildings  is  restricted.     There  is  no  such  restriction 
in  most  of  the  cities  in  the  United  States.     In  New  York  City 
particularly,  the  problem  of  fire  hazard  is  complicated  by  the  fact 
that  manufacturing  in  which  inflammable  materials  are  used  is 
permitted  at  eight,  ten,  and  fifteen  stories  above  the  ground. 

3.  INDIVIDUAL   RESPONSIBILITY   FOE   FIRES:      In   European 
countries  the  person  on  whose  premises  a  fire  occurs  is  held  strictly 
to  account. 

In  all  parts  of  Europe  where  the  Code  Napoleon  prevails,  the 
law  of  voisinage  holds  the  landlord  responsible  for  his  negligence 
to  all  concerned,  whether  tenants  or  neighbors,  and  if  fire  origi- 
nates from  the  carelessness  of  a  tenant,  he  is  held  responsible  to  all 
concerned,  whether  landlord  or  neighbors.  This  law  places  the 
responsibility  where  it  properly  belongs  and  makes  every  one 
maintain  his  premises  in  as  safe  a  condition  as  is  possible  through 
human  foresight. 

*  Frank    H.    Mason,    IT.    S.    Consul-General    to    the    Bureau    of   Manufactures    of 
the  Department  of  Commerce  and   Labor. 


.REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  57 

In  this  country  the  average  person  pays  little  attention  to  fire 
loss,  hardly  realizing  that  insurance  does  not  replace  the  property 
destroyed  but  merely  equalizes  the  loss  among  all  those  whose 
property  is  insured. 

The  loose  system  of  insurance  in  this  country  renders  over- 
insurance  prevalent  and  opens  the  door  to  incendiarism,  which 
is  here  the  cause  of  many  fires.  The  careful  investigation  of  the 
causes  of  fires  in  European  countries  and  the  more  efficient  system 
of  inspection  there  maintained,  also  contribute  to  the  difference  in 
fire  losses  that  has  been  pointed  out. 

SCOPE  OF  THE  COMMISSION'S  INVESTIGATIONS 

The  Commission  has  limited  itself  primarily  to  an  investiga- 
tion of  the  hazard  to  life  in  factory  buildings,  but  throughout  our 
investigations  the  fact  has  been  repeatedly  brought  to  our  notice 
that  matters  affecting  property  hazard  directly  concern  protec- 
tion of  human  life  and  vice  versa.  Thus  a  fire  wall  in  a  build- 
ing enables  the  occupants  to  reach  a  zone  of  safety  with  compara- 
tive ease,  and  at  the  same  time  prevents  the  spread  of  fire  since 
it  confines  the  destruction  of  the  contents  of  the  building  to  a 
limited  area.  The  requirement  that  stairways  be  enclosed  by 
fire-resisting  materials  results  in  affording  to  the  occupants  a 
temporary  haven  of  refuge  and  also  prevents  the  spread  of  fire 
from  floor  to  floor.  An  automatic  sprinkler  system  checks  the  fire 
in  its  incipient  stages,  saves  property,  and  protects  human  life. 

"  In  the  United  States  we  are  so  prone  to  consider  the 
rights  of  the  individual  that  we  are  apt  to  overlook  the  rights 
of  the  aggregation  of  individuals.  It  is  not  denied  that 
municipal  building  regulations  adopted  by  any  American 
city,  requiring  uniform  fire-resistive  building  construction 
after  any  fixed  date,  would  give  rise  to  seeming  injustices 
and  hardships,  but  if  laws  requiring  the  remodeling  of  pres- 
ent risks  were  also  rigidly  enforced,  in  addition  to  laws  cover- 
ing the  erection  of  new  buildings,  the  hardships  would  soon 
be  equalized,  and  benefit  accrue  to  the  community  in  the  way 
of  reduced  fire  losses,  reduced  insurance  premiums,  reduced 
expenses  for  maintaining  fire-fighting  equipments,  and  added 
security  to  life  and  property  interests."  * 

*  Freitag,  Fire  Prevention  and  Fire  Protection,  p.  17. 


58  REPORT  or  COMMISSION. 

The  consideration  of  the  fire  hazard  problem  is  divided  into 
two  parts: 

1.  Investigation  of  conditions  in  existing  factory  buildings 
and  the  measures  to  be  adopted  to  render  those  buildings  safe  for 
occupancy. 

2.  Requirements    for    the    future    construction    of    factory 
buildings. 

THE  EXISTING  FIRE  PROBLEM  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 

Five  kinds  of  buildings  are  used  for  factory  purposes  in  the 
city  of  New  York: 

1.  The  converted  tenement  or  dwelling. 

2.  The  non-fireproof  loft  building. 

3.  The  fireproof  loft  building  less  than  150  feet  in  height. 

4.  The  fireproof  loft  building  over  150  feet  in  height. 

5.  The  factory  building  proper,  constructed  for  factory  pur- 
poses and  occupied  by  one  establishment,  which  may  be  fireproof 
or  non-fireproof. 

Three  of  these  types  are  especially  dangerous  when  used  as 
factory  buildings.  They  are  (1)  the  converted  dwelling  or 
tenement  house,  which  was  never  intended  to  be  used  for  business 
purposes  above  the  ground  floor;  (2)  the  non-fireproof  loft  build- 
ing, usually  six  or  seven  stories  high;  and  (3)  the  fireproof  loft 
building  less  than  150  feet  in  height. 

1.     THE  CONVERTED  DWELLING  OR  TENEMENT 

Owing  to  increase  in  land  values  and  to  change  in  residence 
localities,  many  buildings  formerly  used  for  living  purposes  have 
been  made  over  into  factories.  These  buildings  are  from  four  to 
six  stories  in  height  and  usually  25  feet  wide  by  about  60  to  85 
feet  deep.  The  exterior  walls  are  brick  or  stone,  and  the  floors,  in- 
terior trim,  stairways,  beams  and  doors  are  of  wood.  The  stair- 
ways are  usually  from  two  to  three  feet  in  width  with  doors  often 
opening  inward.  There  are  no  automatic  sprinkler  systems,  no  fire 
prevention  or  extinguishing  appliances  except  fire  pails,  which  are 
not  always  reserved  for  fire  purposes.  The  work  rooms,  divided 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  59 

by  wooden  partitions.,  are  crowded  with  employees,  and  the  ma- 
chines are  placed  as  close  together  as  space  will  permit,  without 
regard  to  means  of  exit.  There  are  exterior  fire-escapes  with 
balconies  on  each  floor,  connected  by  vertical  ladders  (those  of 
later  construction  by  inclined  stairways),  which  usually  lead  to 
a  yard  in  the  rear  of  the  premises  or  to  some  blind  alley,  from 
which  there  is  no  means  of  escape.  There  is  ordinarily  a  ladder 
from  the  lowest  balcony  to  the  ground,  but  it  is  generally  not  in 
place,  or  very  difficult  to  use  in  case  of  fire,  because  of  its  weight. 
There  is  usually  but  one  door  leading  from  the  street.  In  build- 
ings of  this  sort  we  have  a  type  constructed  for  dwelling  purposes 
only,  in  which  the  number  of  occupants  is  multiplied  many  times 
beyond  the  capacity  originally  intended  without  any  addition  to 
the  exit  facilities. 

2.     THE  LOFT  BULLDING 

The  loft  building  marks  an  evolution  in  the  construction  of 
factory  buildings  in  the  city  of  New  York.  The  first  lofts  were 
built  about  twenty-five  years  ago  for  the  storing  and  sale  of 
merchandise,  but  the  manufacturer  soon  found  it  desirable  to  have 
his  goods  manufactured  in  workrooms  adjacent  to  his  salesroom 
and  directly  under  his  supervision. 

Increase  in  land  values,  morever,  forced  the  manufacturer  to 
extend  upwards  instead  of  spreading  out  horizontally.  The 
availability  of  the  loft  for  manufacturing  purposes  was  soon  ap- 
preciated, and  to-day  this  type  of  building  is  generally  used  for 
factory  purposes. 

(A)   The  Non-Fireproof  Loft  Buildings 

The  non-fireproof  loft  building  is  usually  six  or  seven  stories 
in  height,  25  feet  wide  by  80  feet  in  depth,  with  brick,  stone,  or 
iron  fronts  and  rears,  brick  side  walls,  wooden  floors  and  wooden 
trim.  There  is  usually  one  unenclosed  wooden  stairway,  varying 
in  width  from  two  to  three  and  one-half  feet,  and  often  winding 
around  the  elevator  shaft.  Wooden  doors  lead  to  the  stairways 
and  very  often  these  doors  open  inward.  The  buildings, 
as  a  rule,  have  exterior  fire-escapes  similar  to  those 
found  on  the  converted  tenement  described  above.  Usually  every 
floor  in  these  buildings  is  occupied  by  a  different  tenant  and  in 


CO  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

some  cases  there  are  two  or  more  tenants  on  each  floor.  The  ten- 
ant uses  the  floor,  or  his  portion  of  it,  as  salesroom,  oflice,  and 
factory,  dividing  one  from  the  other  by  wooden  partitions.  In 
the  manufacturing  part  there  are  usually  a  number  of  machines 
placed  together  as  closely  as  possible  with  little  aisle  space.  These 
buildings  are  to  be  found  in  great  numbers  on  the  lower  east  and 
west  side  of  New  York  City.  The  number  of  people  permitted  to 
work  on  any  one  floor  is  restricted  only  by  a  provision  of  the  labor 
law  which  requires  a  minimum  of  250  cubic  feet  of  air  space  per 
person,  with  no  specific  requirement  for  the  floor  area.  As  the 
distance  between  floor  and  ceiling  is  at  least  ten  feet  and  often 
more,  this  cubic  air  space  is  easily  obtained  without  any  appreci- 
able diminution  of  overcrowding  and  congestion.  The  present 
law  does  not  require  the  posting  of  the  number  of  people  allowed 
even  by  this  standard,  and  so  prosecutions  for  violations  are 
practically  unknown.  These  buildings  usually  contain  no  auto- 
matic sprinklers.  They  have  fire  pails,  which  are  rarely  kept  for 
the  purpose  intended.  A  few  of  them  have  standpipes  with  hose 
which  is  often  useless. 

(B)    The  Fireproof  Loft  Building  Less  than  150  Feet  High 

The  fireproof  loft  building  less  than  150  feet  in  height,  that  is. 
about  12  stories  or  under,  has  brick,  stone,  or  metal  exterior  walls, 
wooden  floors  and  trim,  stairways  of  metal  or  stone,  and  elevators. 
The  stairways  are  generally  about  three  feet  wide,  enclosed  by 
fireproof  walls.  These  buildings  are  either  25,  50,  75,  or  100  feet 
wide  by  85  to  200  feet  in  depth,  the  usual  size  being  50  by  80  or 
90  feet. 

The  conditions  of  occupancy  are  similiar  to  those  in  the  non- 
fireproof  loft  buildings  just  described.  The  Triangle  Waist  Com- 
pany occupied  a  building  of  this  type  at  23-29  Washington  Place, 
New  York  City.  That  building,  in  its  construction  and  interior, 
is  typical  of  the  so-called  fireproof  loft  buildings,  and  indeed  much 
better  than  hundreds  of  buildings  used  for  similar  purposes  in 
New  York  City  to-day.  Some  of  these  buildings  have  automatic 
sprinkler  systems.  They  are  usually  provided  with  standpipes, 
connected  with  the  city  water  supply,  and  have  on  each  floor  a 
hose  of  required  length,  and  some  are  provided  with  exterior  fire 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  61 

escapes.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  in  these  buildings  elevators  are 
used  for  passage  from  the  street  to  the  upper  floors  not  only  by  the 
employers  and  others  but  also  by  the  employees.  For  this  reason 
the  latter  are  in  most  cases  quite  unaware  of  the  location  of  the 
stairways.  Auxiliary  fire  appliances  are  usually  provided,  but 
their  existence  is  unknown  to  the  workers  and  no  care  is  given  to 
their  preservation.  The  interior  arrangements  are  similar  to 
those  existing  in  the  non-fireproof  loft  building;  that  is  to  say, 
there  are  wooden  partitions,  great  congestion,  and  doors  opening 
inward. 

Testimony  shows  that  the  danger  in  these  so-called  fireproof 
buildings  comes  from  the  use  of  wood  for  floors,  doors,  and  trim. 
The  buildings  are  usually  of  such  height  that  the  ladders  and  ex- 
tensions of  the  fire  department,  and  even  the  water  towers,  do  not 
have  standpipes,  with  which  hose  is  connected  on  each  floor,  and 
reach  the  upper  stories.  Fire  occurring  in  these  places  under  the 
conditions  of  manufacture  hereafter  described,  usually  results  in 
the  destruction  of  the  entire  contents  of  the  building  although 
walls  and  floors  remain  substantially  intact. 

(C)   The  Fireproof  Loft  Building  More  than  150  Feet  in  Height 

This  type  of  building  is  more  than  twelve  stories  in  height. 
The  walls  are  of  brick,  stone,  or  metal;  the  floors  of  cement  or 
stone ;  the  trim  and  doors  of  metal  or  fire-resisting  material ;  and 
the  stairways  of  stone  or  metal,  enclosed  by  fireproof  walls 
There  are  usually  several  stairways  and  elevators.  The  buildings 
are  sometimes  supplied  with  automatic  sprinkler  systems  and 
other  appliances  for  extinguishing  fires.  In  addition,  these 
buildings  sometimes  have  exterior  stairways  leading  either  to  the 
street  or  to  the  ground  in  the  rear.  The  buildings  are  usually 
50,  75,  or  100  feet  or  more  in  width  and  are  from  75  to  200  feet 
deep.  They  are  used  for  manufacturing  and  other  purposes,  and 
sometimes  one  tenant  is  found  to  occupy  more  than  one  floor.  In 
these  buildings,  if  a  fire  occurs,  it  is  usually  confined  to  the  floor 
on  which  it  starts,  since  it  cannot  burn  up  or  down  except  through 
the  windows  the  sashes  of  which  are  fireproof. 

Above  the  sixth  floor  these  buildings  are  open  to  the  same  ob- 
jection as  are  fireproof  buildings  less  than  150  feet  high,  namely, 
the  upper  floors  cannot  be  reached  by  the  firemen.  The  exit 


62  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

facilities  are  usually  well  constructed,  but  the  number  of  people 
who  occupy  these  buildings  is  not  determined  by  exits,  width  of 
stairways,  or  floor  space.  The  only  restriction  is,  as  in  all  other 
buildings,  the  provision  for  250  cubic  feet  of  air  space  for  each 
employee.  The  distance  between  the  floors  is  usually  10  to  15 
feet,  so  that  the  cubic  air  space  may  fulfil  the  legal  requirements 
although  the  floor  is  in  a  congested  condition. 

DANGER  TO  LIFE  IN  FIREPROOF  BUILDINGS 

Particular  investigation  was  made  of  the  so-called  fireproof 
building,  which  is  generally  believed  on  account  of  its  construction 
to  be  safer  for  the  occupants  than  the  non-fireproof  building  and  to 
require  few  if  any  precautions  either  to  prevent  fire  or  to  preserve 
the  safety  of  the  occupants  when  it  occurs.  The  testimony  disclosed 
the  weakness  of  this  fancied  security.  Although  the  fireproof 
building  itself  will  not  burn,  the  merchandise,  wooden  partitions, 
and  other  inflammable  material  burn  as  readily  in  a  fireproof 
building  as  in  any  other.  It  is  assumed  by  all  fire  insurance  ex- 
perts that  when  a  fire  occurs  on  any  one  floor,  the  contents  of  that 
entire  floor  will  be  destroyed.  It  is  like  placing  paper  in  a  fire- 
proof box ;  the  fire  is  confined  to  a  specific  locality,  but  the  fire  is 
no  less  hot  and  destructive  within  its  given  bounds.  Therefore, 
unless  means  are  provided  for  automatically  extinguishing  fires 
and  for  the  rapid  escape  of  the  occupants,  loss  of  life  may  occur 
even  in  fireproof  buildings. 

The  Triangle  Waist  Company  fire  is  illustrative  of  this  fact. 
There  the  building  was  practically  left  intact,  yet  the  fire  was 
severe  enough  to  cause  the  death  of  a  large  number  of  the  occu- 
pants. In  a  fireproof  building  the  fire  is  confined  to  a  limited 
area  and  for  this  reason  is  more  easily  controlled.  The  occupants 
of  floors  over  eighty  feet  from  the  ground  cannot,  however,  be 
reached  by  the  fire  department's  ladders,  and  must  trust  for  escape 
to  the  stairways  or  to  exterior  fire-escapes. 

In  many  of  these  buildings  the  occupants  manufacture  garments 
and  other  inflammable  articles.  The  floors  are  littered  with 
quantities  of  cuttings,  waste  material,  and  rubbish,  and  are  often 
soaked  with  oil  and  grease.  Seldom  is  regular  effort  made  to 
clear  the  floors.  Fireproof  receptacles  are  not  usually  provided 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  63 

for  accumulated  waste,  which  in  some  cases  is  not  removed  from 
the  floor  for  many  days.  Many  of  the  workmen,  foremen,  and 
employers  smoke  during  business  hours  and  at  meal  times. 
Lighted  gas  jets  unprotected  by  globes  or  wire  netting  are  placed 
near  inflammable  material.  Very  often  quantities  of  made-up 
garments  and  inflammable  raw  material  are  stored  in  these  lofts. 
Fire  drills  are  held  only  at  rare  intervals,  exits  are  unmarked,  and 
the  location  of  the  stairways  and  exterior  fire-escapes  is  often  un- 
known. Access  to  the  stairway  and  'the  outside  fire-escapes  is 
obstructed  by  machinery,  wooden  partitions,  and  piled-up  mer- 
chandise, and  in  some  cases  the  fire-escape  balcony  is  at  such  dis- 
tance from  the  floor  as  to  make  it  almost  impossible  for  women 
employees  to  reach  it  without  assistance.  Wired  glass  is  not 
used  in  the  windows  facing  the  balconies  of  the  fire-escapes  except 
in  fireproof  buildings  over  150  feet  high.  In  some  cases  the 
windows  leading  to  fire-escapes  are  not  large  enough  to  permit 
the  easy  passage  of  adults.  Automatic  or  manual  fire  alarms  are 
hardly  ever  provided,  except  in  the  larger  fireproof  buildings. 

"  Under  the  majority  of  the  present  building  codes  the 
so-called  fireproof  buildings  are  fireproof  only  in  the  sense 
that  a  conflagration  does  not  seriously  damage  the  structure. 
A  fire  may  rage  from  room  to  room  and  floor  to  floor,  par- 
titions and  all  interior  fittings  may  be  charred  and  consumed, 
the  contents  may  be  destroyed,  but  the  four  walls  and  frame- 
work, the  organic  structure  of  the  building,  usually  come 
through  the  ordeal  intact.  It  is  the  damage  to  the  contents 
far  more  than  to  the  buildings  themselves  that  makes  the 
fire  loss  of  the  United  States  so  heavy.  In  the  matter  of  new 
laws,  therefore,  it  is  not  so  much  the  buildings  which  should 
receive  added  attention  but  the  contents  and  inmates  thereof. 
We  must  add  to  the  term  '  fireproof/  the  terms  '  deathproof  ' 
and  '  conflagration  proof.'  "  * 

So  far  as  the  safety  of  the  occupants  of  the  building  is  con- 
cerned, the  term  "  fireproof  "  is  misleading  and  a  misnomer.  In 
the  Iroquois  Theatre  fire,  in  the  Triangle  Waist  Company  fire  and 
in  many  others  in  which  the  loss  of  life  was  great,  the  buildings 
were  fire-resisting  so  far  as  the  structure  was  concerned,  but  the 

*  Fire  Prevention  by  Edward  F.  Croker,  Former  Chief  of  the  Fire  Depart- 
ment of  New  York  City,  p.  9. 


64  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

character    of   the    building   did   not   lessen    the    danger    to    the 
occupants. 

THE  EXISTING  FIRE  PROBLEM  IN  OTHER  CITIES  OF  THE  STATE 

In  the  cities  of  Buffalo,  Rochester,  and  Syracuse,  although  there 
are  loft  buildings  in  which  manufacturing  is  carried  on,  compara- 
tively few  are  of  great  height,  so  that  this  problem  is  far  from 
being  so  complicated  and  extensive  in  those  cities  as  in  New  York. 
In  these  cities  manufacturing  is  usually  conducted  in  special 
factory  buildings  which  vary  front  three  to  six  stories  in  height. 
Such  buildings,  save  those  recently  constructed,  are  almost  always 
non-fireproof.  The  walls  are  of  brick,  stone,  or  metal ;  the  floors, 
trim,  doors,  and  stairways  are  wooden,  the  latter  are  in  an  open 
well  or  surrounded  by  wooden  partitions.  Sometimes  there  are 
exterior  fire-escapes.  These  buildings  do  not  have,  as  a  rule,  any 
automatic  sprinklers,  or  appliances  for  extinguishing  fires,  except 
fire  pails,  which  are  frequently  in  a  useless  condition. 

A  feature  of  some  of  these  buildings  is  the  "  gas-pipe  "  fire- 
escape.  These  fire-escapes  consist  of  vertical,  iron  or  metal  lad- 
ders, affixed  to  the  wall  of  the  building  and  adjacent  to  the 
windows.  The  ladders  usually  run  from  the  top  floor  of  the  build- 
ings to  the  first  floor  and  afford  no  means  of  reaching  the  ground ; 
only  an  acrobat  could  safely  descend  them.  The  chief  of  the  fire 
department  of  one  of  these  cities  testified  that  he  could  not  use 
these  ladders  but  that  if  it  came  to  a  question  of  being  burned  alive 
or  using  the  fire-escape,  he  supposed  he  would  try  it. 

The  lack  of  precautions  to  prevent  fire  is  marked  throughout 
the  state  as  well  as  in  New  York  City.  Smoking  goes  on  in  just 
the  same  way,  rubbish  is  piled  upon  fire-escapes,  overcrowding 
and  congestion  prevail,  and  no  attempt  is  made  to  keep  clear  and 
unobstructed  passageways  to  exits.  Access  to  exterior  fire-escapes 
in  many  cases  is  impossible  because  of  obstructions  in  front  of 
doors  and  windows.  Wooden  partitions  exist  in  most  of  the 
buildings,  doors  open  inward,  inflammable  material  used  in  manu- 
facturing is  kept  on  hand  in  quantities,  gas  jets  are  unprotected, 
and  there  are  no  means  provided  in  the  building  for  giving  an 
alarm  of  fire  either  to  the  occupants  or  to  fire  headquarters.  Little 
attention  is  paid  to  the  regular  cleaning  of  buildings.  Fire  drills 
are  practically  unknown. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  65 

RECOMMENDATIONS 

At  the  outset  the  Commission  recommends  that  the  following 
definition  of  a  factory  building  be  incorporated  in  section  two  of 
the  labor  law : 

"  The  term  *  factory  building '  when  used  in  this  chapter 
means  any  building,  shed  or  structure  which  or  any  part  of 
which  is  occupied  by  or  used  for  a  factory."  * 

PREVENTION  OF  FIRE 

The  old  adage  that  an  ounce  of  prevention  is  better  than  a  pound 
of  cure  applies  with  special  force  to  the  prevention  of  fires. 
Expert  testimony  given  before  the  Commission  was  to  the  effect 
that  at  least  50%  of  the  fires  occuring  in  this  state  could  be  pre- 
vented if  simple  and  inexpensive  precautions  were  taken. 

The  prevention  of  fire  is  nothing  more  than  a  matter  of  "  good 
housekeeping."  Cleanliness  of  the  workroom  and  of  the  factory 
building,  the  removal  of  rubbish,  the  collection  of  waste  cuttings 
and  inflammable  material  in  fireproof  receptacles,  the  prohibition 
of  smoking,  and  the  protection  of  gas  jets  are  most  effective  aids 
to  this  end. 

The  enlightened  manufacturer  realizes  that  the  calamity  of  fire, 
hitherto  characterized  as  an  act  of  God,  is  often  due  simply  to  care- 
lessness and  usually  preventable. 

In  its  preliminary  report  to  the  legislature,  the  Commission 
submitted  a  bill  containing  the  following  provisions: 

1.  The  provision  of  fireproof  receptacles  in  which  all  inflam- 
mable waste  materials,  cuttings,  and  rubbish  were  to  be  placed. 

2.  The  removal  of  waste  materials,  rubbish,  and  cuttings  of 
a  manufacturing  establishment  at  least  twice  a  day,  and  the  re- 
moval of  such   cuttings   and  waste  materials   from   the  factory 
building  at  least  once  a  day. 

3.  Gas  jets  in  factories  to  be  enclosed  by  globes  or  wired  cages 
or  otherwise  properly  protected. 

4.  Smoking  in  factories  prohibited  and  to  be  punishable  as  a 
violation  of  the  labor  law. 

*  Bill   8,   Appendix   I. 
5 


66  REPOUT  OF  COMMISSION, 

The  bill  containing  these  requirements  was  passed  by  the  Legis- 
lature and  is  now  embodied  in  section  83b  of  the  labor  law. 

The  prohibition  of  smoking  has  been  productive  of  excellent 
results  according  to  the  testimony  of  the  Fire  Commissioner  of 
New  York  City.  Since  the  law  went  into  effect  last  October,  more 
than  200  prosecutions  for  violation  were  successfully  instituted  in 
that  city. 

The  only  change  that  we  recommend  in  this  law  is  one  relating 
to  the  requirement  that  all  waste  materials  be  removed  from  a 
factory  at  least  once  a  day.  We  believe  that  if  such  materials  and 
cuttings  are  baled  they  may  be  safely  stored  in  fireproof  enclosures 
and  removed  therefrom  once  a  month.  We  therefore  recommend 
the  following  change  in  the  provision  referred  to : 

"  All  such  waste  materials,  cuttings  and  rubbish  shall  be 
entirely  removed  from  a  factory  building  'at  least  once  in 
each  day,  except  that  baled  waste  material  may  be  stored  in 
fireproof  enclosures,  provided  that  all  such  baled  waste  ma- 
terial shall  be  removed  from  such  building  at  least  once  in 
each  month."  * 

We  also  recommend  the  following  change  in  the  form  of  the 
provision  relating  to  the  prohibition  of  smoking: 

"  [Smoking  in  a]  No  person  shall  smoke  in  any  factory 
[factory  is  prohibited].  A  notice  of  such  prohibition,  stat- 
ing the  penalty  for  violation  thereof,  shall  be  posted  in  every 
entrance  hall  and  in  every  elevator  car.,  stairhall  and  room 
on  every  floor  of  such  factory  in  English,  and  also  in  such 
other  language  or  languages  as  the  fire  commissioner  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  in  such  city,  and  elsewhere,  the  state 
fire  marshal  shall  direct."f 

FIRE  ALARM  SIGNAL  SYSTEMS 

After  careful  consideration  the  Commission  has  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  a  fire  alarm  signal  system  is  necessary  in  every 
factory  building  over  two  stories  in  height  in  which  more  than 
25  persons  are  employed,  to  notify  the  occupants  promptly  of  the 
occurrence  of  fire.  Tn  the  Triangle  Waist  Company  fire  the  em- 

*  Matter  in  italics  is  new;   matter  in  brackets    [  ]   is  old  law  to  be  omitted. 
t  Bill   3,   Appendix    I. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  67 

ployees  on  the  9th  and  10th  stories  were  not  promptly  notified  of 
the  outbreak  of  fire  on  the  8th  story.  That  delay,  short  as  it  was, 
undoubtedly  contributed  greatly  to  the  loss  of  life. 

We  do  not  believe  that  there  should  be  any  hard  and  fast  re- 
quirements in  the  statute  itself  as  to  the  kind  and  number  of 
signals.  The  provision  of  the  statute  should  be  general,  leaving 
it  to  the  fire  commissioner  in  the  city  of  New  York  and  the  state 
fire  marshal  elsewhere,  to  determine  what  methods  shall  be  used 
in  the  different  types  of  factories  throughout  the  state.  Require- 
ments that  would  be  necessary  in  a  high  loft  building  in  New  York 
City  would  be  superfluous  in  a  small  country  factory.  We  there- 
fore recommend  the  following  provision: 

"Every  factory  building  over  two  stories  in  height  in 
which  more  than  twenty-five  persons  are  employed  above  the 
ground  floor  shall  be  equipped  with  a  fire  alarm  system  with 
a  sufficient  number  of  signals  clearly  audible  to  all  occupants 
thereof.  The  industrial  board  may  malce  rules  and  regula- 
tions prescribing  the  number,  kind  and  location  of  such 
signals.  Such  system  shall  be  installed  by  the  owner  or  lessee 
of  the  building  and  shall  permit  the  sounding  of  all  the 
alarms  within  the  building  whenever  the  alarm  is  sounded  in 
any  portion  thereof.  Such  system  shall  be  maintained  in 
good  working  order.  No  person  shall  tamper  with,  or  render 
ineffective  any  portion  of  said  system  except  to  repair  the 
same.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  whoever  discovers  a  fire  td 
cause  an  alarm  to  be  sounded  immediately."* 

FIEE  DRILLS 

In  our  last  report  we  referred  very  fully  to  the  necessity  for 
fire  drills  in  factories.  The  greatest  danger  in  a  factory  fire  is 
the  panic  and  pandemonium  that  arise  when  the  cry  of  fire  rings 
through  the  workroom,  and  the  operatives  rush  madly  to  the  exit 
that  they  generally  use.  This  exit  is  often  the  elevator  which  in 
most  fires  is  soon  rendered  useless. 

In  many  of  the  larger  buildings  where  occupants  use  the  eleva- 
tors for  passage  to  and  from  their  work,  the  location  of  the  stairs 
or  exterior  fire-escapes,  as  has  been  said,  is  unknown.  A  fire  drill 
conducted  periodically  under  competent  supervision  would  give 
the  employees  in  case  of  fire  a  sense  of  security  now  entirely 

*  Bill   4.    Appendix  I. 


68  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

lacking;  it  would  show  them  the  location  of  all  the  exits,  the 
quickest  way  to  reach  them  and  how  to  use  them;  it  would  em- 
phasize clearly  the  necessity  for  keeping  passageways  to  exits  un- 
obstructed and  constantly  bring  to  the  minds  of  employer  and 
employee  alike  the  possibility  of  fire  and  the  necessity  for  using 
every  precaution  to  prevent  it. 

It  is  our  belief  that  regular  fire  drills  are  the  best  means  of 
preventing  panic  when  fire  occurs.  Although  the  good  discipline 
resulting  from  them  cannot  be  made  so  effective  in  a  factory  as 
in  a  school,  it  undoubtedly  would  go  far  in  preventing  a  mad  rush 
toward  the  exits.  We  therefore  recommend  that  in  every  factory 
building  over  two  stories  in  height  in  which  more  than  twenty- 
five  persons  are  employed  above  the  ground  floor  a  fire  drill  shall 
take  place  at  least  once  a  month,  which  will  conduct  all  the 
occupants  of  the  building  to  a  place  of  safety  and  in  which  all 
the  occupants  in  the  building  shall  participate  simultaneously. 
In  Xew  York  City  the  fire  commissioner  and  in  the  rest  of  the 
state  the  state  fire  marshal  shall  supervise  such  drills  and  shall 
make  regulations  therefor. 

It  is  particularly  important  that  in  a  loft  building  where  dif- 
ferent floors  are  occupied  by  different  tenants  there  should  be  a 
co-operative  fire  drill,  that  is,  a  drill  participated  in  simultan- 
eously by  all  of  the  occupants  of  the  building,  including  the  em- 
ployees of  its  different  establishments.  Only  in  this  way  can  it 
be  determined  whether  the  exit  facilities  furnished  are  adequate 
to  enable  the  occupants  to  escape  at  a  time  of  fire. 

Fire  drills  participated  in  only  by  the  employees  of  one  floor  of 
a  factory  building  are  not  of  any  great  value  because  the  probable 
conditions  of  a  fire  are  not  in  this  way  reproduced. 

We  therefore  recommend  that  in  case  of  buildings  containing 
more  than  one  tenant,  the  fire  commissioner  and  the  state  fire 
marshal  as  the  case  may  be,  shall  make  rules  and  regulations 
suitable  for  the  adequate  co-operation  of  all  the  tenants  of  the 
building.  Such  rules  should  also  prescribe  upon  whom  shall  rest 
the  duty  of  carrying  them  out. 

AUTOMATIC  SPRINKLERS 

The  necessity  is  very  apparent  of  an  efficient  means  of  extin- 
guishing fire  in  its  incipient  stages,  particularly  in  high  build- 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  69 

ings.  Fire  departments  are  unable  to  reach  with  their  ladders 
any  point  above  the  seventh  story  of  a  building,  or  higher  than 
ninety  feet  above  the  ground.  Ordinary  precautions  are  there- 
fore insufficient  above  that  height. 

The  automatic  sprinkler  system  consists  of  a  tank  usually  upon 
the  roof  of  the  building,  containing  an  independent  supply  of 
water,  communicating  with  pipes  which  run  along  the  ceilings  of 
each  floor.  At  regular  intervals  in  these  pipes  are  placed  what 
is  known  as  "  sprinkler  heads,"  fastened  with  fusible  nuts,  which 
when  exposed  to  a  certain  degree  of  heat  automatically  melt  and 
discharge  a  flow  of  water.  The  chiefs  of  various  fire  departments 
testified  that  one  of  the  best  means  of  preserving  life,  especially 
in  high  buildings  and  in  those  where  wooden  trim  is  used,  is  an 
automatic  sprinkler  system.  The  fire  chief  of  the  city  of  New 
York  and  the  fire  commissioner  then  in  office  testified  after  the 
fire  in  the  building  of  the  Triangle  Waist  Company  that  if  an 
automatic  sprinkler  system  had  been  installed  in  that  building, 
the  fire  would  have  been  checked  at  its  beginning  or  would  have 
been  confined  to  a  very  small  area,  and  not  a  single  life  would 
have  been  lost. 

.  The  Superintendent  of  Buildings  of  the  city  of  New  York,  in  a 
memorandum  submitted  to  the  Commission  last  year  said:* 

"  Of  greater  importance  than  fireproof  construction  as  a 
safeguard  is  an  efficient  means  of  extinguishing  fire  in  its 
incipiency.  For  this  purpose  there  is  nothing  better  than 
a  well  designed  automatic  sprinkler  system." 

The  advisory  expert  to  the  Commission  in  1911  in  his  report 
stated  as  follows  :f 

"  It  is  believed  that  the  sprinkler  system  where  properly 
installed  will,  in  many  cases  extinguish  fire  in  its  incipiency 
and  in  most  cases  will  retard  its  spread  affording  more  time 
for  the  escape  of  persons  to  safety  and  preventing  the  fire 
from  gaining  material  headway  until  the  arrival  of  the  fire- 
men. They  should  be  required  in  all  non-fireproof  factory 
buildings  occupied  by  more  than  200  persons  above  the  first 

*  Volume  I,  Preliminary  Report  New  York  State  Factory  Investigating 

Commission,  p.  699. 

t  Volume  I,  Preliminary  Report  New  York  State  Factory  Investigating 

Commission,  p.  153. 


70  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

story  and  exceeding  three  stories  or  forty  feet  in  height.  In 
fireproof  buildings  with  window  openings  protected  with 
approved  fireproof  frames,  sash,  and  glass,  sprinkler  systems 
are  more  useful  and  valuable  as  a  protection  of  property  than 
to  life." 

The  advisory  expert  to  the  Commission  in  1912,  in  his  report, 
said: 

"  Sprinkler  systems  are  quite  as  effective  in  fireproof  as  in 
non-fireproof  buildings  especially  in  preventing  the  spread  of 
fire  and  giving  the  occupants  more  time  to  make  their  safe 
exit  from  the  building." 

The  Efficiency  of  the  System 

The  Superintendent  of  Buildings  in  New  York  City  in  his 
memorandum  quoted  above,  said  that  fully  90%  of  the  fires  in 
buildings  equipped  with  automatic  sprinklers  have  been  extin- 
guished in  their  incipient  stages  or  effectively  held  in  check. 

Testimony  as  to  the  efficacy  of  sprinkler  systems  varies,  but 
the  lowest  estimate  of  their  successful  operation  is  75%,  and  the 
highest,  95%.  Proof  was  given  that  in  New  England  mills  where 
sprinkler  systems  have  been  in  use  for  many  years,  there  was  only 
one  loss  of  life  where  the  sprinkler  system  was  installed,  and  in 
that  case  the  water  supply  for  the  system  was  cut  off  just  before 
the  fire. 

The  installation  of  an  automatic  sprinkler  system  eventually 
pays  for  itself  by  the  reduction  of  fire  insurance  premiums  granted 
where  the  system  is  installed.  The  reduction  varies  from  35% 
to  50%  in  insurance  premiums  on  building  and  contents.  The 
reduction  of  premiums  is  allowed,  however,  only  if  the  system  is 
one  approved  by  the  National  Board  of  Fire  Underwriters,  consist- 
ing of  representatives  of  most  of  the  fire  insurance  companies  in 
the  United  States.  Anyone  desiring  to  obtain  the  benefit  of  a  re- 
duction in  insurance  rate  must  install  one  of  these  approved 
systems.  Some  testimony  was  offered  indicating  that  there  was 
or  had  been  an  arrangement  or  understanding  by  which  high  prices 
were  charged  for  these  systems,  but  this  statement  was  declared  to 
be  without  foundation  by  many  witnesses,  including  architects 
and  engineers.  Testimony  was  given  that  any  competent  plumber 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  71 

could  install  a  sprinkler  system  which  would  be  effective  in  case 
of  fire. 

The  Commission  has  had  no  opportunity  to  conduct  the  thorough 
investigation  into  this  subject  that  is  necessary  to  ascertain  the 
full  facts,  but  recommends  that  such  an  investigation  be  made. 

Recommendations  for  Existing  Buildings 

The  Commission,  although  desiring  in  view  of  the  circumstances 
to  make  no  drastic  recommendations  on  this  subject,  is  nevertheless 
convinced  that  in  buildings  over  seven  stories  or  90  feet  in  height 
in  which  wooden  flooring  or  wooden  trim  is  used  and  in  which 
manufacturing  is  carried  on  above  the  seventh  story  and  more  than 
200  persons  are  employed  above  that  story,  the  only  safe  means  to 
prevent  the  spread  of  fire  and  the  loss  of  life  incidental  thereto, 
would  be  the  installation  of  an  automatic  sprinkler  system. 

The  danger  to  life  is  just  as  great  in  a  fireproof  building  where 
wooden  trim  and  wooden  floor  finish  are  used,  as  it  is  in  a  non- 
fireproof  building,  particularly  where  manufacturing  is  carried 
on  at  a  height  which  is  beyond  the  reach  of  the  fire  fighting  and 
life  saving  equipment  of  the  fire  department  and  where  a  large 
number  of  persons  are  employed  above  that  height.  It  will  be 
found  also  that  in  practically  all  of  the  manufacturing  carried 
on  above  this  height  the  materials  of  manufacture  are  of  a  more 
or  less  inflammable  character.  We  therefore  recommend  that 
in  existing  buildings  an  automatic  sprinkler  system  be  required 
under  the  conditions  mentioned. 

Recommendations  for  Future  Buildings 

In  the  case  of  buildings  hereafter  constructed,  the  Commission 
recommends  that  an  automatic  sprinkler  system  be  installed  in 
all  buildings  over  seven  stories  or  ninety  feet  in  height  with 
wooden  floor  or  wooden  trim  in  which  any  manufacturing  is 
carried  on  above  the  seventh  story,  irrespective  of  the  number  of 
persons  employed  above  that  story.  In  most  buildings  of  this 
kind  now  being  constructed  automatic  sprinkler  systems  are 
installed. 


72  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

Recommendations  for  Both  Existing  and  Future  Buildings 

In  addition  to  the  minimum  requirements  set  forth  above  for 
existing  buildings  and  buildings  hereafter  erected,  the  Commission 
recommends  that  the  industrial  board  be  authorized  to  make  rules 
and  regulations  for  the  installation  of  automatic  sprinkler  systems 
in  every  case  in  which  they  are  needed  because  of  the  hazardous 
character  of  the  business  carried  on,  to  ensure  the  safety  of  the 
occupants  of  the  factory  building.* 

FIBE  ESCAPES  AND  EXITS  IN  EXISTING  BUILDINGS 

We  make  the  following  recommendations  for  exits  and  fire- 
escape  facilities  in  existing  factory  buildings. 

Required  Exits 

Every  building  over  two  stories  in  height  should  be  provided 
on  each  floor  with  at  least  two  means  of  exit  or  escape  from  fire 
and  these  exits  should  be  remote  from  each  other.  One  of  the 
exits  should  lead  to  or  open  on  an  interior  stairway  or  to  an  ex- 
terior enclosed  fireproof  stairway,  the  other  to  one  of  such  stair- 
ways or  to  a  horizontal  exit  or  to  an  exterior  screened  stairway,  or 
when,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Industrial  Board  the  safety  of  the  oc- 
cupants of  the  building  would  not  be  endangered  thereby,  to  fire- 
escapes  on  the  outside  of  the  building.  !N"o  portion  of  any  floor 
of  such  factory  should  be  more  than  100  feet  distant  from  one  such 
means  of  exit. 

A  horizontal  exit  is  an  opening  through  a  fire  wall  in  a  build- 
ing, or  through  a  party  wall  between  two  buildings,  or  through 
exterior  balconies  connecting  a  building  with  an  adjoining  or 
nearby  structure. 

*  A  conference  including  representatives  of  the  following  bodies,  in  a  mem- 
orandum submitted  to  the  Commission,  recommended  that  an  automatic 
sprinkler  system  be  required  In  all  factory  buildings  over  fifty  feet  in  height: 

Allied  Real  Estate  Interests;  American  Institute  of  Consulting  Engineers; 
Brooklyn  Chapter  American  Institute  of  Architects;  Brooklyn  League;  Citizens' 
Union;  City  Club  of  New  York;  Committee  on  Safety;  National  Board  of  Fire 
Underwriters;  New  York  Board  of  Fire  Underwriters;  N.  Y.  Chapter  American 
Institute  of  Architects;  N.  Y.  Society  of  Architects;  Joint  Labor  Conference 
on  Workmen's  Compensation. 

The  memorandum  stated  as  follows:  "In  the  opinion  of  this  conference  the 
automatic  sprinkler  is  so  valuable  a  means  of  fire  prevention  that  it  should 
be  required  in  more  buildings  than  those  specified  in  this  (the  Commission's)  Bill." 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  73 

Inadequacy  of  Outside  Fire-Escapes 

Even  in  the  case  of  existing  buildings,  we  have  hesitated  to 
recommend  that  an  outside  fire-escape  be  under  all  circumstances 
accepted  as  a  required  means  of  exit.  Such  fire-escapes  are  as 
a  general  rule  totally  inadequate  in  case  of  fire.  The  objections 
to  the  use  of  such  fire-escapes  as  a  means  of  exit  have  been  ably 
summed  up  in  a  brief  submitted  to  the  Commission  as  follows:* 

"  All  outside  fire-escapes  are  open  to  the  following  objec- 
tions: Inmates  are  not  accustomed  to  their  use  and  do  not 
generally  seek  them  except  as  a  last  resort.  They  do  not 
allow  of  a  quick  and  ready  means  of  escape,  as  persons  are 
unaccustomed  to  them  and  will  move  along  slowly,  thus  de- 
laying those  who  are  following.  In  wintry  weather  they  are 
liable  to  be  obstructed  by  snow  and  ice,  and  when  covered 
with  sleet  or  ice  become  unsafe  and  dangerous.  Very  often 
they  are  rendered  useless  becase  of  smoke  and  flame  issuing 
from  the  windows  at  which  they  are  placed.  The  means  of 
getting  from  the  lowest  balcony  is  generally  the  least  satis- 
factory of  the  entire  equipment,  and  being  at  a  point  where 
it  is  most  needed  greatly  delays  quick  egress.  They  are 
liable  to  be  blocked  by  being  used  as  storage  platforms,  and 
no  amount  of  inspection  can  entirely  prevent  this  in  crowded 
districts.  Numerous  instances  may  be  found  in  the  public 
press  in  which  inmates  seeking  fire-escapes  have  failed  to 
know  what  to  do  and  have  waited  for  the  fire  department  to 
come  and  take  them  down.  On  account  of  the  contracted 
dimensions  of  these  fire-escapes  large  persons  have  some- 
times found  difficulty  in  making  proper  use  of  them.  The 
fire  department  has  generally  advocated  their  use,  but  it 
will  be  found  that  this  advocacy  is  based  on  a  desire  to  have 
a  means  of  getting  into  the  building ;  but  if  desirable  for  this 
purpose,  then  they  should  be  provided  as  such  and  not  offered 
to  the  inmates  as  a  satisfactory  means  of  egress." 

Only  under  conditions  prescribed  by  the  Industrial  Board 
should  outside  fire-escapes  be  accepted  as  one  of  the  required  means 
of  exit  in  existing  buildings.  In  the  case  of  buildings  hereafter 
erected  we  unhesitatingly  recommend  that  the  construction  of  out- 

*  Brief  submitted  by  Rudolph  P.  Miller,  Volume  I  of  the  Preliminary  Report 
of  the  New  York  State  Factory  Investigating  Commission,  p.  699. 


74  REPOET  OF  COMMISSION. 

side  fire-escapes  be  discouraged  and  that  under  no  circumstances 
should  they  be  allowed  as  a  required  exit  from  a  factory. 

Stairways  to  ihe  Roof 

Wherever  it  is  found  that  egress  may  be  had  from  the  roof  of 
a  factory  building  to  an  adjoining  or  neighboring  structure,  we 
believe  that  it  is  necessary  that  stairways  extending  to  the  top  floor 
of  the  building  be  continued  to  the  roof  to  enable  the  occupants  of 
the  building  to  escape  in  case  of  fire.  Of  course  where  egress  may 
not  be  had  from  the  roof  it  would  be  an  unnecessary  expense  to 
require  the  stairways  to  be  continued  to  the  roof.  All  stairways 
that  constitute  required  means  of  exit  from  the  building  should  be 
extended  to  the  roof. 

Stairway  Enclosures 

There  are  very  many  buildings  throughout  the  state  with  wooden 
stairways  which  are  unenclosed  or  which  are  enclosed  by  non-fire- 
proof partitions.  In  many  cases  such  stairways  wind  around 
hoistways  and  elevator  shafts.  When  a  fire  occurs  it  spreads 
through  these  stairways  like  a  flame  through  a  chimney,  and  ren- 
ders escape  impossible  by  means  of  the  stairs.  The  rapidity  with 
which  a  fire  spreads  in  buildings  in  this  country  as  compared  with 
European  countries,  is  undoubtedly  due  to  the  fact  that  we  have 
here  neglected  properly  to  protect  vertical  openings. 

In  the  opinion  of  every  expert  on  the  subject,  the  vertical  hazard 
constitutes  a  very  grave  danger.  The  unenclosed  wooden  stair- 
way in  a  factory  building  is  a  menace  to  property  and  to  life.  A 
number  of  great  fires  occuring  in  this  country  has  plainly 
shown  this  fact.  To  require  the  wooden  stairs  to  be  removed  and 
fireproof  ones  erected  would  in  our  opinion  be  too  great  a  hard- 
ship. Reasonable  safety  will  be  afforded  if  these  stairways  are 
enclosed  by  partitions  or  walls  of  fire-resisting  material.  The  oc- 
cupants of  the  building  will  thus  be  permitted  to  descend  the  stairs 
in  safety,  since  the  fire  will  be  checked  at  the  entrance  to  the  stairs. 
We  therefore  make  the  following  recommendation: 

All  interior  stairways  serving  as  required  means  of  exit  in 
buildings  more  than  four  stories  in  height  and  the  landings, 
platforms  and  passageways  connected  therewith  shall  be  en- 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  75 

closed  on  all  sides  by  partitions  of  fire-resisting  material  ex- 
tending continuously  from  the  basement. 

Doors 

The  present  labor  law  (section  80)  provides  that  doors  leading 
to  exits  shall  open  outward  wherever  practicable.  Up  to  the 
time  of  the  Triangle  Waist  Company  fire  this  provision  was  liber- 
ally construed  and  there  were  but  few  orders  requiring  changes  in 
existing  doors.  That  fire  showed,  however,  the  grave  danger  to 
life  caused  by  doors  opening  inward  in  a  factory  building,  par- 
ticularly where  large  numbers  of  persons  are  employed.  The  fact 
that  the  doors  opened  inward  undoubtedly  contributed  to  the  great 
loss  of  life  occurring  in  that  fire.  We  therefore  recommend  that 
where  five  or  more  persons  are  employed  on  any  one  floor  of  a 
factory  building,  every  door  on  such  floor  shall  open  outward  or 
slide  freely  and  that  all  exit  doors  in  the  first  story  including  the 
doors  of  the  vestibule,  shall  open  outward.  All  doors  that  open 
outward,  however,  shall  be  so  constructed  as  not  to  obstruct  the 
passageway. 

Outside  Fire-Escapes 

As  previously  mentioned,  the  Commission  places  little  reliance 
on  an  outside  fire-escape  as  a  means  of  escape  during  fire.  In  ex- 
isting buildings  we  have  recommended  that  such  fire-escapes  be  ac- 
cepted as  a  required  exit  only  where  the  safety  of  the  employees 
in  the  building  would  not  be  jeopardized  thereby.  We  are  sub- 
mitting, however,  to  the  legislature  detailed  specifications  for  the 
construction  of  fire-escapes  to  be  placed  hereafter  upon  existing 
buildings.* 

Existing  Outside  Fire-Escapes 

As  they  are  at  present  constructed,  many  existing  outside  fire- 
escapes  are  nothing  but  fire  traps.  Often  there  is  no  stairway 
leading  to  the  roof,  no  proper  stairway  leading  to  a  landing  place 
and  a  fire-escape  often  ends  in  a  blind  alley  or  cul-de-sac  from 
which  no  escape  is  possible. 

Under  no  circumstances  should  the  so-called  vertical  ladder 
type  of  fire-escape  be  permitted  and  no  existing  outside  fire-escape 
should  be  accepted  unless  it  has  stairways  placed  at  an  angle  of 

*  Bill   6,    Appendix  I. 


76  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

not  more  than  60°.     We  recommend  the  following  requirements 
for  fire-escapes  now  in  existence  on  factory  buildings : 

1.  A  stairway  leading  from  the  top  floor  balcony  to  the  roof 
except  where   the  fire-escapes   are  located   on   the   front  of  the 
building. 

2.  A  "  counter-balanced  "  stairway  from  the  lowest  balcony  to 
a  safe  landing  place  beneath. 

3.  Safe  and  unobstructed  exit  should  be  provided  to  the  street 
from  the  foot  of  the  fire-escape  either  by  a  fireproof  passageway 
leading  to  the  street  and  adequately  lighted,  or  into  an  open  area 
having  communication  with  the  street. 

4.  Where  the  distance  from  the  floor  of  a  work-room  to  the  sill 
of  the  window  opening  upon  a  fire-escape  is  more  than  three  feet, 
suitable  steps  should  be  provided  to  reduce  such  distance. 

5.  The  windows  of  all  openings  leading  to  fire-escapes  should 
have  metal  frames  and  sash,  and  wired  glass.     Doors  leading  to 
fire-escapes  should  be  of  fireproof  construction. 

REQUIREMENTS  FOE  NEW  BUILDINGS 
Fireproof  Construction 

The  Commission  is  of  the  opinion  that  all  buildings  hereafter 
erected  over  four  stories  in  height  should  be  of  fireproof  construc- 
tion if  used  for  factory  purposes.  The  difference  in  cost  between 
a  building  of  fireproof  construction  and  a  building  of  mill  or  slow 
burning  construction  is  rapidly  decreasing  owing  to  the  increasing 
cost  of  lumber. 

Experience  in  European  countries  has  shown  that  the  con- 
struction of  buildings  of  fire-resisting  materials  has  resulted  in 
confining  a  fire  to  a  limited  area,  and  as  a  consequence  in  those 
countries  the  fire  loss  is,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  much  less  than 
in  the  United  States.  A  building  hereafter  erected  should  be 
deemed  of  fireproof  construction  if  it  conforms  to  the  following 
requirements : 

All  walls  constructed  of  brick,  stone,  concrete  or  terra- 
cotta ;  all  floors  and  roofs  of  brick,  terra-cotta  or  reinforced 
concrete  placed  between  steel  or  reinforced  concrete  beams 
and  girders;  all  the  steel  entering  into  the  structural 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  77 

parts  encased  in  at  least  two  inches  of  fireproof  ma- 
terial, excepting  the  wall  columns,  which  must  be  encased  in 
at  least  eight  inches  of  masonry  on  the  outside  and  four 
inches  on  the  inside;  all  stair-wells,  elevator  wells,  public 
hallways  and  corridors  enclosed  by  fireproof  partitions  with 
metal-covered  doors,  trim  and  sash;  all  stairways,  landings, 
hallways,  and  other  floor  surfaces  of  incombustible  material ; 
no  woodwork  or  other  combustible  material  used  in  any 
partition,  furring,  ceiling  or  floor;  and  all  window  frames, 
doors  and  sash,  trim  and  other  interior  finish  of  incombus- 
tible material ;  all  windows  shall  be  fireproof  windows  except 
that  in  buildings  under  seventy  feet  in  height,  fireproof 
windows  are  required  only  when  within  thirty  feet  of  another 
building;  except  that  in  buildings  under  one  hundred  feet 
in  height  there  may  be  wooden  sleepers  and  floor  finish  and 
wooden  trim. 

CONSTRUCTION  OF  FACTORY  BUILDINGS  OVER  ONE  STORY 
IN  HEIGHT 

We  make  the  following  recommendations  for  the  construction  of 
factory  buildings  hereafter  erected  over  one  story  in  height. 

Roofs  and  Cornices 

The  roofs  of  all  buildings  should  be  covered  with  incombusti- 
ble material  and  their  cornices  should  be  constructed  of  such 
material.  The  necessity  for  a  fire-resisting  roof  covering  to  serve 
as  a  protection  from  heat,  sparks  or  embers  from  a  neighboring 
fire  or  from  more  distant  sources,  was  directly  emphasized  in  the 
fire  of  1902  at  Paterson,  K.  J.,  where  several  fires  broke  out  in 
different  parts  of  the  city  at  one  time  from  flying  embers  falling  on 
wooden  roofs.  Likewise,  in  order  to  prevent  the  rapid  spread  of 
fire  from  one  building  to  another,  all  exterior  walls  of  a  non-fire- 
proof building  within  twenty-five  feet  of  any  other  non-fireproof 
building  should  be  not  less  than  eight  inches  thick  and  should  ex- 
tend to  three  feet  above  the  roof. 

Floor  Area  and  Required  Exits 

There  should  be  from  every  floor  area  not  less  than  two  means 
of  exit  remote  from  each  other,  one  of  which  should  be  an  interior 


78  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

enclosed  fireproof  stairway  or  an  exterior  enclosed  fireproof  stair- 
way and  the  other  should  be  one  of  such  stairways  or  a  horizontal 
exit.  The  term  "  floor  area  "  signifies  the  entire  floor  area  be- 
tween fire  walls  or  between  a  fire  wall  and  an  exterior  wall  of  a 
building  or  between  the  exterior  walls  of  a  building  where  there 
is  no  intervening  fire  wall. 

The  Commission  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  present  type  of  out- 
side fire-escapes  consisting  of  inclined  stairways  should  not  be  per- 
mitted as  required  means  of  exit  in  factory  buildings  hereafter 
constructed. 

No  point  in  any  floor  area  should  be  more  than  100  feet  distant 
from  one  such  exit.  Whenever  any  floor  area  exceeds  5,000 
square  feet  there  should  be  provided  at  least  one  additional  exit  as 
before  described  for  each  5,000  square  feet  or  part  thereof  in  ex- 
cess of  5,000  square  feet. 

Smoke-proof  Towers 

Undoubtedly  the  best  type  of  fire-escape  for  a  factory  building 
is  the  so-called  Philadelphia  fire  tower  which  consists  of  a  stairway 
enclosed  by  fire-resisting  material,  separated  from  the  interior  of 
the  building,  except  for  an  exterior  balcony  at  each  floor  level 
which  forms  a  means  of  communication  through  the  outer  air  be- 
tween the  tower  and  the  interior  of  the  building.  Such  fire-escapes 
have  no  direct  communication  with  the  interior  and  the  danger 
from  smoke  is  reduced  to  a  minimum.  Interior  or  covered  ves- 
tibules may  take  the  place  of  the  exterior  balconies.  Such  vesti- 
bules should  open  to  the  outer  air  by  means  of  openings  in  the 
exterior  wall  extending  from  floor  to  ceiling.  Any  smoke  that 
may  chance  to  enter  the  tower  from  the  interior  of  the  building 
thus  escapes  directly  to  the  outer  air. 

We  therefore  recommend  that  in  every  new  factory  building 
over  100  feet  in  height  there  shall  be  at  least  one  such  tower  stair- 
way to  which  access  can  readily  be  had  from  any  point  in  the 
building. 

Construction  of  Stairways 

All  stairways  should  be  constructed  of  incombustible  material 
and  should  be  not  less  than  44  inches  wide.  The  stairways  should 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  79 

be  wide  enough  to  permit  two  persons  to  go  down  abreast  comfort- 
ably. The  treads  should  be  not  less  than  10  inches  wide  exclu- 
sive of  nosing  and  the  rise  not  more  than  7%  inches,  and  the 
sum  of  the  rise  and  tread  should  be  not  less  than  1794  inches.  The 
treads  should  be  constructed  and  maintained  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  prevent  persons  from  slipping  thereon.  Every  stairway  should 
have  proper  and  substantial  hand-rails.  All  stairways  serving  as 
required  means  of  exit  should  lead  continuously  to  the  street  or 
to  a  fireproof  passageway  independent  of  other  means  of  exit  from 
the  building,  opening  on  a  road  or  street,  or  to  an  open  area 
affording  unobstructed  passage  to  a  road  or  street.  All  stairways 
that  extend  to  the  top  story  should  be  continued  to  the  roof.  Pro- 
vision should  be  made  for  the  adequate  lighting  of  all  stairways 
by  artificial  light. 

Winders 

No  stairway  with  winders  should  be  permitted  except  as  a  con- 
nection from  one  floor  to  another.  Winders  are  a  source  of  great 
danger  in  case  of  fire,  causing  congestion  and  consequent  panic. 
They  are  forbidden  in  ISTew  York  City  in  theatres  and  public 
buildings,  and  there  is  every  reason  to  prohibit  them  in  the  future 
in  factory  buildings  where  the  fire  hazard  is  far  greater. 

Enclosure  of  Stairways  and  Elevator  Shafts 

Every  stairway  and  elevator  shaft  should  be  enclosed  on  all 
sides  by  fireproof  partitions  extending  continuously  from  the  base- 
ment to  three  feet  above  the  roof. 

We  have  already  discussed  the  necessity  for  the  enclosure  of 
stairways  in  existing  factory  buildings.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
about  the  necessity  for  this  requirement  in  factory  buildings  over 
one  story  in  height  hereafter  constructed. 

Enclosure  of  Vertical  Openings 

The  principal  aim  in  the  future  construction  of  factory  build- 
ings is  to  confine  a  fire  to  a  limited  area  and  to  prevent  its  spread 
from  one  floor  to  another.  All  vertical  openings  leading  from 
one  floor  to  another,  including  elevator  and  dumbwaiter  shafts, 
vent  and  light  shafts,  pipe  and  duct  shafts,  and  hoistways  should 


80  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

be  enclosed  throughout  their  height  on  all  sides  by  enclosures  of 
fireproof  material. 

"  San  Francisco's  experience  indicates  that  wells  and  ele- 
vator shafts,  running  up  through  many  stories,  should  be 
guarded  by  brick  or  reinforced  concrete  walls,  fitted  with 
double  metal  rolling  doors,  bolted  to  the  walls  to  allow  for 
expansion,  or  with  automatic  sliding  doors  and  wire  glass 
partitions.  There  was  little  or  no  provision  for  cutting  off 
the  draught  of  air  that  will  ascend  through  such  a  shaft 
during  a  fire,  and  great  destruction  resulted  in  consequence."* 

Doors  and  Doorways 

All  doors  should  open  outward.  We  have  already  discussed  the 
necessity  for  this  provision  in  the  case  of  existing  buildings.  The 
width  of  hallways  and  exit  doors  leading  to  the  street,  at  the  street 
level,  should  be  not  less  than  the  aggregate  width  of  all  stairways 
leading  to  them.  Every  door  leading  to  or  opening  on  a  stairway 
should  be  of  at  least  the  same  width  as  such  stairway. 

Partitions 

To  permit  the  use  of  wooden  partitions  in  buildings  of  fireproof 
construction  hereafter  erected  is  highly  illogical,  and  defeats  the 
purpose  of  making  the  interior  of  the  building  as  fireproof  as 
possible.  We  therefore  recommend  that  all  partitions  in  the  in- 
terior of  buildings  of  fireproof  construction  hereafter  erected  shall 
be  of  incombustible  material. 

REQUIREMENTS  COMMON   TO   BUILDINGS  HERETOFORE  AND 
HEREAFTER  ERECTED 

The  Commission  makes  the  following  recommendation  for  re- 
quirements that  shall  apply  to  all  factory  buildings,  those  now  in 
existence  and  those  hereafter  erected. 

Doors  and  Windows 

No  door,  window  or  other  opening  on  any  floor  of  a  factory 
building  should  be  obstructed  by  stationary  metal  bars,  grating  or 

*  "  The  San  Francisco  Earthquake  and  Fire  "—Bulletin  No.  324,  United  States 
Geological  Survey. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  81 

wire  mesh.  Metal  bars,  grating  or  wire  mesh  provided  for  any 
such  door,  window  or  other  opening  should  be  so  con- 
structed as  to  be  readily  movable  or  removable  from 
both  sides  in  such  manner  as  to  afford  the  free  and  unobstructed 
use  of  such  door,  window,  or  other  opening  as  means  of  egress  in 
case  of  need,  and  they  should  be  left  unlocked  during  working 
hours.  No  door  leading  into  or  out  of  any  factory  on  any  floor 
thereof  should  be  locked  or  bolted  during  working  hours. 

Exit  Signs 

The  Commission  ascertained,  by  investigation  and  testimony, 
that  exits  to  outside  fire  escapes  and  interior  stairways  were  often 
unknown  to  many  of  the  operatives.  It  is  essential  that  the  loca- 
tion of  these  exits  be  clearly  indicated.  We  recommend,  therefore, 
that  a  clearly  painted  sign  marked  "  EXIT  "  in  letters  not  less 
than  eight  inches  in  height  shall  be  placed  over  all  exits  leading  to 
stairways,  elevators  and  other  means  of  egress,  and,  in  addition, 
a  red  light  shall  be  placed  over  such  means  of  egress  for  use  in 
time  of  darkness. 

Access  to  Exits 

A  contributing  cause  to  the  loss  of  life  in  the  Triangle  Waist  Co. 
fire  was  the  lack  of  clear  passageways  leading  either  to  the  outside 
fire-escapes  or  to  the  stairways  or  elevators.  The  operatives  were 
crowded  together,  seated  at  machine  tables  with  chairs  back  to 
back,  so  that,  when  a  great  number  of  them  attempted  to  leave  at 
the  same  time,  there  was  panic  and  confusion. 

The  tables  containing  the  sewing  machines  on  the  9th  floor  were 
placed  so  close  to  the  south  wall  of  the  building  that  the  only  con- 
venient way  for  the  operatives  seated  near  that  wall  to  reach  the 
elevators  and  stairways  at  the  southwest  corner,  was  to  walk  the 
entire  length  of  the  crowded  space  between  the  tables,  to  the  north 
side  of  the  building  and  then  use  the  aisles  which  extended  along 
the  north  and  west  sides  of  the  building.  As  a  result  twenty 
dead  bodies  were  found  near  the  machines,  the  operatives  being 
"  apparently  overcome  before  they  could  extricate  themselves 
from  the  crowded  aisles."  * 

*  Report   of  the   New   York    Board   of   Fire   Underwriters. 

6 


82  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

The  Coroner's  jury  which  investigated  the  fire  made  the  fol- 
lowing report  on  this  subject: 

"  We  find  that  one  of  the  tables  to  which  the  machines 
were  attached  and  at  which  the  employees  worked,  was  75 
feet  long,  and  that  it  extended  along  one  side  of  the  room  to 
within  16  inches  of  a  partition  at  another  end,  thus  leaving 
only  2  passageways,  one  of  about  1314  inches  and  one  of 
16  inches,  which  the  employees,  working  at  that  table,  were 
obliged  to  pass  to  reach  the  stairways  and  elevators.  The 
condition  which  prevailed  in  this  building  obtains  in  many 
similar  buildings." 

The  Commission's  investigators  found  that  in  many  buildings 
the  work  tables,  merchandise,  stock,  and  even  the  workers  were 
crowded  together  so  as  to  make  it  impossible  for  the  employees  to 
move  about  with  freedom.  The  aisles  in  many  cases  were  found 
to  be  too  small  or  narrow  to  admit  of  easy  passage.  Exits  were 
often  found  to  be  obstructed  by  the  erection  of  temporary  parti- 
tions put  up  indiscriminately  by  tenants  without  any  considera- 
tion of  the  obstruction  of  exits  and  passageways. 

We  therefore  recommend  that  there  shall  at  all  times  be  main- 
tained continuous,  safe,  unobstructed  passageways  on  each  floor 
of  the  building,  with  an  unobstructed  width  of  at  least  three  feet 
throughout  their  length  leading  directly  to  every  exit  including 
outside  fire-escapes  and  passenger  elevators  and  that  all  exits  shall 
be  maintained  in  an  unobstructed  condition. 

INDUSTRIAL  BOARD  TO  MAKE  RULES  AND  REGULATIONS  FOR 

SAFETY 

The  foregoing  are  simply  minimum  requirements  for  the 
safety  of  the  occupants  of  factory  buildings  in  case  of  fire.  It 
is  obviously  impossible  to  provide  for  every  contingency  in  a 
statute.  We  would  recommend,  therefore,  that  in  addition  to 
these  minimum  requirements  the  statute  contain  a  provision  that 
no  factory  shall  be  conducted  in  any  building  whether  heretofore 
or  hereafter  erected,  unless  such  building  shall  be  so  constructed, 
equipped  and  maintained  in  all  respects  as  to  afford  adequate  pro- 
tection against  fire  to  all  persons  employed  therein,  and  that  the 
Industrial  Board  shall  have  the  power  to  adopt  rules  and  regula- 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  83 

tions,  establishing  requirements  and  standards  for  the  construc- 
tion, maintenance,  and  equipment  of  factory  buildings  or  of 
particular  classes  of  factory  buildings  and  the  means  and  adequacy 
of  exits  therefrom,  in  order  to  ensure  the  safety  of  all  of  the 
occupants  in  factory  buildings,  in  addition  to  the  specific  require- 
ments of  the  statute  and  not  inconsistent  therewith. 

LIMITATION  OF  THE  NUMBER  OF  OCCUPANTS 

That  every  factory  building  should  have  exit  facilities  suf- 
ficient to  enable  all  of  the  occupants  thereof  to  escape  in  safety  in 
case  a  fire  occurs  seems  open  to  no  question.  Yet  in  actual 
practice,  that  requirement  has  been  entirely  disregarded.  Em- 
ployees are  crowded  into  our  tall  loft  buildings  and  our  converted 
tenement  houses  with  no  provision  for  escape  in  case  of  fire.  This 
condition  is  permitted  by  law.  The  number  of  stairways  required 
in  a  building  under  the  present  provisions  of  the  building  code  of 
New  York  City  (and  those  provisions  are  substantially  followed 
in  other  cities  of  the  state)  is  based  not  upon  the  number  of 
occupants  or  even  upon  the  height  of  the  building  but  upon  its 
area.  The  present  provision  of  the  labor  law  simply  provides  that 
there  shall  be  250  cubic  feet  of  air  space  in  a  factory  for  each 
occupant.  As  the  ceilings  in  most  cases  are  high,  this  provision 
does  not  prevent  overcrowding.  The  theatre  law  for  several 
years  past  has  limited  the  number  of  occupants  in  theatres  in 
accordance  with  exit  facilities  provided.  This  same  provision  we 
believe  should  be  extended  at  once  to  factories  where  the  fire 
hazard  is  so  much  greater  and  where  the  height  at  which  manu- 
facturing is  carried  on  involves  increased  danger  to  life. 

The  problem  in  existing  buildings  which  have  been  permitted 
by  law  to  be  erected  without  regard  to  the  safety  of  the  occupants, 
is  a  very  difficult  one.  It  has  been  urged  that  requirements  for 
added  exit  facilities  would  work  hardship  upon  the  owners;  but 
the  duty  of  the  state  in  this  regard  is  a  plain  one  and  should  not 
be  shirked.  Xo  requirement  necessary  for  the  preservation  of 
the  lives  of  the  employees  in  these  factory  buildings  in  case  of  fire 
is  unreasonable.  That  we  have  been  indifferent  and  neglectful  in 
the  past  is  no  reason  why  we  should  continue  to  disregard  the 
fundamental  laws  of  safety. 


84  REPOKT  OF  COMMISSION. 

Limitation  of  Number  of  Occupants  According  to  Stairways 

We  recommend  therefore  that  the  number  of  persons  permitted 
to  be  employed  on  any  one  floor  of  a  factory  building  shall  be 
limited  in  accordance  with  the  size  and  number  of  exits  provided 
and  that  such  number  of  persons  be  allowed  to  increase  in  pro- 
portion to  the  additional  exits  or  means  of  extinguishing  or  pre- 
venting the  spread  of  fire  provided  by  the  owner  or  tenant. 

For  that  purpose  we  recommend  certain  minimum  require- 
ments that  may  however  be  increased  and  made  more  stringent 
when  and  where  in  the  opinion  of  the  Industrial  Board  such  a 
course  is  necessary  for  the  safety  of  the  occupants  in  different 
classes  of  factory  buildings. 

The  ordinary  means  of  exit  in  case  of  fire  are  interior  stair- 
ways, elevators,  and  outside  fire-escapes.  The  Commission  be- 
lieves that  in  determining  the  number  of  persons  to  be  permitted 
to  work  on  a  floor  no  allowance  should  be  made  for  elevators  and 
outside  fire-escapes.  Their  availability  in  case  of  fire  is  always 
more  or  less  uncertain.  In  this  view  we  are  supported  by  all  of 
the  experts  who  have  appeared  before  us. 

Capacity  of  Stairways  in  Existing  Buildings 

The  capacity  of  the  stairway  as  an  exit  is  limited  by  its  height 
and  width.  It  is  manifest  therefore  that  the  number  of  persons 
occupying  the  building  must  bear  some  relation  to  the  capacity  of 
stairways  in  the  building. 

After  careful  consideration  of  the  testimony  of  experts  and 
parties  in  interest  appearing  before  the  Commission  and  of  the 
briefs  submitted  by  them,  we  recommend  that  in  existing  build- 
ings, no  more  than  14  persons  shall  be  employed  or  permitted  to 
work  on  any  one  floor  of  a  factory  building  for  every  18  inches  in 
width  of  stairway  provided  for  such  floor  and  that  for  any  excess 
in  width  of  less  than  18  inches  a  proportionate  increase  in  the 
number  of  occupants  shall  be  allowed.  For  every  additional  16 
inches  over  10  feet  in  height  of  any  floor,  one  additional  person 
shall  be  permitted  to  be  employed  thereon  for  every  18  inches  in 
width  of  stairway  provided  for  such  floor. 

Occasions  may  arise,  however,  where  this  requirement  might 
work  hardship.  For  example,  one  floor  of  a  building  may  have 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  85 

a  great  may  occupants  on  it  while  the  floor  below  may  be  used  as 
a  show-room  and  have  but  few  employees  on  it.  In  that  event 
an  additional  allowance  may  safely  be  made  in  present  buildings. 
We  recommend,  therefore,  that  the  Industrial  Board  be  given 
power  to  make  rules  and  regulations  allowing  an  increase  in  the 
number  of  occupants  on  any  floor  of  a  factory  building  heretofore 
erected,  but  not  exceeding  the  rate  of  20  persons  for  every  18 
inches  in  width  of  stairway,  where  the  conditions  are  such  as  to 
warrant  such  increase  and  where  the  safety  of  the  employees  in 
the  building  would  not  be  endangered  thereby. 

The  limitation  of  the  number  of  occupants  in  existing  factory 
buildings  is  a  very  drastic  innovation,  and  it  is  only  just  and 
proper  that  the  Industrial  Board  be  given  some  discretionary 
power  to  afford  relief  in  cases  where  the  minimum  requirement 
outlined  in  the  statute  would  work  hardship  and  would  be  un- 
necessary to  secure  the  safety  of  the  occupants  of  the  building. 

Reduction  for  Winders 

If  any  stairway  has  winders  the  capacity  of  the  stairway  should 
be  counted  as  10  per  cent,  less  than  the  capacity  of  a  straight 
stairway  of  the  same  width.  Winders  are  a  source  of  danger  in 
case  of  fire  and  cause  congestion  and  consequent  inability  to  es- 
cape rapidly.  A  stairway  with  winders  can  accommodate  fewer 
persons  than  a  straight  stairway. 

Capacity  of  Stairways  in  Future  Buildings 

In  the  case  of  buildings  hereafter  constructed  we  recommend 
that  not  more  than  14  persons  shall  be  employed  or  permitted  to 
work  on  any  one  floor  for  every  full  22  inches  in  width  of  stair- 
way provided  for  such  floor  and  that  no  allowance  be  made  for 
any  excess  in  width  of  less  than  22  inches.  We  have  already 
recommended  that  in  case  of  buildings  hereafter  constructed  all 
stairways  shall  be  not  less  than  44  inches  wide  and  shall  have  no 
winders. 

Enclosed  Stairhalls 

Where  the  stairways  and  stairhalls  are  enclosed  in  fireproof 
partitions  properly  constructed,  and  the  openings  in  such  parti- 
tions are  provided  with  fireproof  doors,  so  many  additional  persons 


86  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

may  be  employed  on  any  floor  as  can  occupy  the  enclosed  stair- 
hall  or  halls  on  that  floor  allowing  3  square  feet  of  unobstructed 
floor  space  per  person.  This  allowance  is  based  upon  the  assump- 
tion that  the  additional  number  of  persons  permitted  on  a  floor 
will,  when  they  enter  the  enclosed  stairhall,  reach  a  zone  of  safety, 
within  a  comparatively  short  period  of  time.  The  partition  wall 
separating  the  stairhall  from  the  loft  in  which  the  fire  occurs,  will 
resist  the  fire  long  enough  to  enable  the  employees  to  escape  from 
the  building. 

Horizontal  Exits 

Horizontal  exits  are  afforded  when  there  is  provided  in  the 
building  one  of  the  following: 

.1.  A  fire  wall  extending  from  cellar  to  roof  constructed  of 
brick,  porous  terra-cotta  blocks,  or  reinforced  stone  concrete,  and 
having  at  each  floor  level  one  or  more  openings  protected  by  fire- 
proof doors  so  constructed  as  to  prevent  the  spread  of  fire  or 
smoke  through  the  openings.  The  openings  shall  be  unobstructed 
and  unlocked  whenever  any  person  is  employed  on  either  side. 

2.  Openings  in  the  party  wall  separating  two  buildings  pro- 
tected by  fireproof  doors  constructed  as  described  in  the  preceding 
paragraph. 

3.  Exterior  balconies  or  bridges  not  less  than  44  inches  in 
width  connected  with  an  adjoining  or  nearby  building;  the  doors 
opening  out  upon  such  balconies  or  bridges  to  be  fireproof  doors 
level  with  the  floor  of  the  balcony;  the  doors  in  the  connected 
buildings  opening  on  such  balconies  and  bridges  to  be  continuously 
kept  unlocked  and  unobstructed  whenever  any  person  is  employed 
on  either  side  of  the  exit;  the  balconies  to  be  enclosed  on  all  sides 
and  at  top  and  bottom  by  fireproof  material  unless  all  windows  or 
openings  upon  such  balconies  or  directly  below  them  or  within  30 
feet  of  them  in  the  connected  buildings  shall  be  provided  with 
metal  frames  and  sash,  and  shall  have  wired  glass  where  glass  is 
used. 

The  occupants  on  one  side  of  a  horizontal  exit  in  case  of  fire 
simply  pass  through  the  doorways  in  the  fire  wall,  party  wall,  or 
exterior  balcony  as  the  case  may  be.  These  doorways  are  self- 
closing  and  the  employees  thus  find  themselves  in  what  is  practi- 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  87 

callj  an  independent  structure  so  far  as  the  danger  from  the  fire 
is  concerned. 

Where  a  horizdntal  exit  is  properly  constructed  and  maintained, 
we  recommend  that  such  additional  number  of  persons  may  be 
employed  on  any  one  floor  as  can  occupy  the  smaller  of  the  two 
spaces  on  either  side  of  the  fireproof  partitions  or  fire  walls  or  as 
can  occupy  the  floor  of  an  adjoining  or  nearby  building  which  is 
connected  with  such  floor  by  openings  in  the  party  wall  or  by  ex- 
terior balconies  or  bridges,  allowing  3  square  feet  of  unobstructed 
floor  space  per  person.  There  shall  in  every  case  be  on  each  side 
of  the  wall,  partition  or  exterior  balconies  forming  the  horizontal 
exit,  at  least  one  stairway  conforming  to  the  requirements  of  re- 
quired means  of  exit. 

Fire  Division  Partitions  on  one  Floor 

A  number  of  cases  have  been  called  to  the  attention  of  the  Com- 
mission, where  in  fireproof  buildings  only  one  floor  of  the  building 
would  have  more  employees  on  it  than  could  be  safely  accommo- 
dated on  the  stairways  provided  for  that  floor.  These  buildings 
had  all  been  erected  recently  and  it  was  urged  that  it  would  be 
a  hardship  to  compel  in  such  cases  the  construction  of  a  fire  wall 
extending  from  the  cellar  to  the  roof.  We  believe  that  in  the 
case  of  buildings  of  fireproof  construction,  heretofore  erected 
where  a  floor  is  sub-divided  by  partitions  of  brick,  terra-cotta,  or 
concrete  not  less  than  4  inches  thick,  extending  continuously  from 
the  fire  proofing  of  the  floor  to  the  under  side  of  the  fire  proofing 
of  the  floor  above,  with  all  openings  protected  by  fireproof  doors, 
such  additional  number  of  persons  may  be  employed  on  the  floor 
so  bisected  as  can  occupy  the  smaller  of  the  two  spaces  on  either 
side  of  such  division  partitions  allowing  3  square  feet  of  unob- 
structed floor  space  per  person.  There  must,  however,  be  on  each  side 
of  said  partitions  at  least  one  stairway  conforming  to  the  require- 
ments for  required  means  of  exit  and  the  doorways  in  the  parti- 
tions shall  be  kept  open  and  unobstructed  during  working  hours. 
The  windows  on  the  floor  on  which  the  division  partition  is  con- 
structed and  on  the  two  floors  directly  underneath  shall  be  fire- 
proof windows. 


88  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

Automatic  Sprinklers 

Where  automatic  sprinklers  are  provided,  we  recommend  that 
the  number  of  persons  permitted  to  work  on  any  one  floor  based 
upon  the  capacity  of  the  stairways  provided  for  that  floor,  be 
increased  fifty  per  cent.  In  other  words,  where  automatic 
sprinkler  systems  are  installed  in  existing  buildings  there  may 
be  21  persons  for  every  18  inches  in  width  of  stairway  on  any 
one  floor  instead  of  14  persons,  and  in  the  case  of  buildings 
hereafter  constructed,  21  persons  for  every  22  inches  in  width 
of  stairway  instead  of  14  persons. 

The  sprinkler  system  is  conceded  to  be  the  most  efficient  means 
of  rapidly  checking  the  spread  of  fire.  Although  it  does  not  in 
itself  afford  an  additional  means  of  escape,  yet  by  keeping  the  fire 
in  check  and  confining  it  to  a  small  space  it  is  recognized  as  one 
of  the  best  indirect  means  of  assisting  escape  when  a  fire  occurs. 
It  is  for  this  reason  that  we  believe  the  number  of  persons  on 
a  floor  may  safely  be  increased  fifty  per  cent.,  if  a  sprinkler 
system  is  installed. 

Prevention  of  Congestion 

The  Commission  is  of  the  opinion  that  in  order  to  prevent  con- 
gestion it  is  necessary  to  limit  the  number  of  persons  permitted 
to  occupy  any  floor,  irrespective  of  the  exits  provided  for  that 
floor.  The  Commission  believes  that  there  shall  be  not  less  than 
36  square  feet  of  floor  space  per  person  in  a  building  of  non- 
fireproof  construction  and  32  square  feet  of  floor  space  in  a  build- 
ing of  fireproof  construction.  This  limitation  is  to  apply  gener- 
ally to  all  factory  buildings  and  to  take  the  place  of  the  provision 
requiring  250  cubic  feet  of  air  space  per  person,  which  is  now  in 
force.  That  the  present  provision  is  inadequate  even  for  the 
purpose  for  which  it  was  designed,  namely,  to  furnish  sufficient 
ventilation,  is  generally  conceded. 

The  recommendation  we  are  making  will  not  only  prevent  con- 
gestion but  it  will  also  insure  better  ventilation. 

Posting 

We  recommend  that  in  every  factory  building  over  two  stories 
in  height  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  shall  cause  to  be  posted 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  89 

notices  specifying  the  number  of  persons  that  may  occupy  each 
floor  in  accordance  with  the  exit  facilities  provided  as  previously 
recommended.  Every  such  notice  shall  be  posted  in  every  stair- 
hall  and  in  every  workroom.  Xo  more  persons  shall  be  permitted 
to  work  on  any  one  floor  of  a  factory  than  are  specified  in  such 
posted  notices. 

FILING  OF  PLANS  WITH  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR 

We  recommend  that  provision  be  made  for  the  filing  of  plans 
for  the  construction  or  alteration  of  factory  buildings  with  the 
Commissioner  of  Labor,  for  the  approval  of  such  plans  by  him 
if  they  comply  with  the  provisions  of  the  statute  and  the  rules 
and  regulations  of  the  Industrial  Board,  and  for  the  issuance  of 
a  certificate  of  compliance  if  the  building  is  constructed  or  the 
alteration  made  in  conformity  with  the  plans  and  specifications 
filed. 

The  Department  of  Labor  will  not  be  equipped  with  facilities 
for  making  the  necessary  inspection  in  the  course  of  the  con- 
struction or  alteration  of  all  buildings  and  the  commissioner 
should  be  given  the  right  to  call  upon  the  local  building  depart- 
ment to  certify  to  him  whether  or  not  the  building  has  been 
constructed  or  altered  in  accordance  with  legal  requirements. 

EFFECT  OF  THE  FOREGOING  REQUIREMENTS  AS  TO  EXITS  AND 

OCCUPANCY 

The  requirements  recommended  by  the  Commission  in  this  sec- 
tion should  be  additional  to  and  not  in  substitution  for  the  re- 
quirements of  any  special  law  or  local  ordinance  relating  to  the 
construction,  equipment  or  maintenance  of  buildings  but  should 
supersede  all  provisions  inconsistent  therewith  in  any  special  law 
or  local  ordinance. 

DETAILED  SPECIFICATIONS 

The  detailed  recommendations  and  specifications  for  construc- 
tion, relating  to  this  subject  will  be  found  in  Bill  i^o.  6  in  Ap- 
pendix I  of  this  report. 


90  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

III. 

MANUFACTURING  IN  TENEMENTS 

For  almost  thirty  years  the  legislature  has  attempted  to  regu- 
late the  system  of  giving  out  factory  products  to  be  manufactured 
in  tenement  homes.  In  1884  an  act  was  passed  prohibiting  the 
manufacture  of  cigars  and  cigarettes  in  tenement  houses  in  cities 
having  over  500,000  inhabitants.  This  act  was  declared  uncon- 
stitutional by  the  Court  of  Appeals  in  the  case  of  In  re  Jacobs 
(98  N.  Y.,  p.  98),  referred  to  hereafter. 

From  1885,  when  the  Jacobs  case  was  decided,  down  to  1892, 
practically  nothing  was  done  to  regulate  or  control  manufacturing 
in  tenement  houses.  The  unsanitary  conditions  found  in  tene- 
ment workrooms  made  it  necessary  for  the  state  to  take  some 
action,  and  in  1892  the  system  of  licensing  homework  was  estab- 
lished. The  law  passed  in  that  year  provided  that  a  home  worker 
engaged  in  finishing  certain  articles  must  obtain  a  license  for  the 
apartment  in  which  he  lived  and  worked.  From  time  to  time  this 
law  has  been  amended,  but  licensing  is  still  its  essential  provision. 
It  is  no  longer  the  apartment  or  the  worker,  but  the  entire 
tenement  which  must  now  be  licensed  before  any  manufacturing 
on  forty-one  specified  articles  can  legally  be  done  by  any  tenant. 
To-day  more  than  twelve  thousand  tenements*  in  the  state  are 
thus  licensed  and  all  the  families  living  in  them  may  legally 
secure  work  to  do  at  home.  Articles  not  mentioned  in  the  law 
may  be  manufactured  in  any  dwelling.  The  Department  of 
Labor  is  charged  with  the  enforcement  of  this  law.  (Article  VII, 
sections  100-105  of  the  labor  law.) 

While  the  legislature  has  been  amending  the  statute  designed  to 
regulate  the  vast  overflow  of  work  from  factories  to  tenement 
homes,  and  while  the  state's  funds  have  been  spent  in  the  increas- 
ingly elaborate  task  of  attempting  to  supervise  home  workrooms, 
the  legislature  at  the  same  time  has  been  seeking  to  develop  an 
adequate  plan  of  protection  for  women  and  child  workers  in 
factories.  But  so  complex  has  been  the  problem  presented  to  the 

*  New  York  State  Department  of  Labor,  Bulletin  No.  52.  September,  1912, 
p.  338. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  91 

lawmakers  by  the  home-work  system,  that  regulation  of  home 
workrooms  has  been  limited  merely  to  an  attempted  supervision 
of  sanitary  conditions.  The  laws  passed  to  protect  women  and 
children  in  factories  by  shortening  'hours  and  preventing  employ- 
ment at  too  early  an  age  have  never  been  extended  to  the  home 
workers  employed  by  factories.  Furthermore,  the  unregulated 
condition  of  employees  who  work  at  home  as  compared  with  their 
fellow-employees  who  work  in  the  shop,  is  an  anomaly  which  tends 
to  nullify  the  effect  of  every  provision  of  the  labor  law  in  its  ap- 
plication to  trades  employing  home-workers.  Thus  the  home- 
work system  challenges  the  attention  of  the  legislature. 

The  important  phases  of  the  subject  are  comprehended  in  these 
questions : 

Does  the  present  law  adequately  protect  the  public  health,  in- 
cluding not  only  the  physical  well-being  of  the  workers,  but  also 
the  health  of  consumers  ?  If  not,  what  further  action  should  be 
taken  by  the  state? 

SOURCES  OF  INFORMATION 

To  answer  these  questions  the  Commission  not  only  called  wit- 
nesses at  public  hearings,  but  also  caused  an  independent  investi- 
gation to  be  made  in  order  to  ascertain  (1)  in  what  industries 
and  in  what  localities  home-work  prevails,  and  to  what  extent 
manufacturers  keep  informed  as  to  the  actual  conditions  under 
which  their  work  is  done  in  the  homes;  and  (2)  what  conditions 
commonly  prevail  in  the  homes  of  the  workers ;  what  guarantee  of 
sanitation  the  license  provides,  and  how  the  labor  conditions  com- 
pare in  general  with  the  standards  within  the  factories  as  to  wages, 
hours  of  work,  and  the  employment  of  children.  Between  May 
20th  and  August  1st,  1912,  agents  of  the  Commission  visited 
factories  and  workers'  homes  in  Auburn,  Buffalo,  Lockport, 
Niagara  Falls,  Tonawanda,  Rochester,  Syracuse,  Utica,  Troy, 
Yonkers,  Little  Falls,  Dolgeville,  Herkimer,  Gloversville,  and 
Cohoes.  The  investigation  in  New  York  City  was  made  between 
October  10th  and  November  25th,  1912.  A  preliminary  investi- 
gation of  this  subject  was  made  in  1911.* 

*  Preliminary  Report  of  New  York  State  Factory  Investigating  Commission, 
p.  33. 


92  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

The  method  of  inquiry  was  to  secure  names  of  factories  giving 
out  home  work  by  following  newspaper  advertisements  for  home 
workers  and  by  seeking  information  from  persons  who  have  first- 
hand knowledge  of  industrial  conditions  in  these  communities. 
These  factories  were  visited  and  the  employers  were  asked  to  give 
names  and  addresses  of  the  home  workers  on  their  payrolls.  A 
fair  proportion  of  these  workers  were  visited  at  home.*  In  Ne\v 
York  City  the  information  secured  by  first-hand  investigation  was 
further  substantiated  by  the  testimony  of  witnesses  at  public 
hearings. 

INDUSTEIES  IN  WHICH  HOME  WORK  is  FOUND 

The  list  of  articles  named  in  the  law,  for  the  manufacture  of 
which  a  house  must  be  licensed,  has  been  extended  from  time  to 
time  as  home  work  in  other  industries  happened  to  be  brought  to 
the  attention  of  the  legislature.  The  following  is  a  list  of  the 
various  articles  manufactured  in  whole  or  in  part  in  tenement 
homes.  Those  which  by  law  can  be  made  only  in  a  licensed  house 
are  given  in  italics.-^ 

I.   Clothing,  millinery. 

Coats,  vests,  trousers,  overalls,  knee  pants,  play  suits,  shirts, 
blouses,  waistbands,  suspenders,  hose  supporters. 

Dresses,  waists,  skirts,  cloaks,  kimonos,  wrappers,  jackets. 

Underwear,  aprons,  handkerchiefs,  pillow-cases,  bolster 
cases,  sheets,  napkins,  tablecloths,  roll  covers. 

Infants'  wear — bonnets,  bibs. 

Jabots,  neckwear,  neck  ornaments. 

Leggings. 

Hats,  caps. 

*  In  New  York  City,  193  factories  were  visited,  of  which  147  stated  that 
they  employed  home  workers.  Of  these,  75  gave  names  and  addresses  of  thejr 
home  workers.  The  total  number  of  addresses  at  which  inquiries  were  made 
was  1,020.  Records  of  nearly  400  families  were  secured  with  detailed  information 
concerning  306  of  those  households.  In  addition,  148  families  were  visited  in 
other  cities  of  the  state.  Miss  Elizabeth  C.  Watson  was  in  charge  of  this 
investigation. 

t  Some  information  was  secured  by  the  Commission  concerning  home  work 
in  each  of  these  groups  of  manufactures.  Although  it  is  well  known  that  the 
men's  ready-made  clothing  trade  employs  large  numbers  of  home  workers,  no 
special  investigation  of  this  occupation  was  made,  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
the  United  States  government  has  re'cently  published  a  comprehensive  report  on 
that  industry.  U.  S.  Government  Report  on  Condition  of  Women  and  Child 
Wage-earners  in  the  United  States  (Vol.  II),  Men's  Ready  Made  Clothing; 
Senate  Document  No.  645.  Washington:  Government  Printing  Office.  1911.  A 
number  of  clothing  manufacturers,  however,  appeared  before  the  Commission. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  93 

Artificial  flowers  and  feathers. 
Millinery. 

Embroideries,  laces,  doilies. 

Bed  spreads,  bed  covers,  pillow  tops,  center  pieces,  laundry 
bags,  dolls'  clothing. 

II.  Textiles. 

Blankets,  carriage  robes. 
Bath  robes. 

Hosiery,  sweaters,  jerseys,  mufflers,  scarfs,  afgans,  shawls, 
booties,  passementerie,  millinery  ornaments. 

III.  Fur  and  Leather  goods. 

Furs,  fur  trimming,  fur  garments,  gloves  and  mittens,  purses, 
hand  bags,  pocketbooks,  slippers. 

IV.  Paper  goods. 

Paper  boxes,  collar  boxes,  paper  bags,  sacks,  calendars,  tags, 
toy  novelties,  pin-wheels,  balloons,  kites,  sample  cards. 

V.  Miscellaneous. 

Rubber  goods,  umbrellas,  buttons,  pin  trays,  broom  holders, 
hair  ornaments,  hair-dressing  articles,  brushes,  pincush- 
ions, stuffed  toys,  human  hair,  mesh  bags,  carding  jewelry, 
fly-swatters. 

VI.  Foods  and  Tobacco. 

Preserves,  nuts,  macaroni,  spaghetti,  icecream,  ices,  candy, 
confectionery,  cigars,  cigarettes. 

Homework  has  been  discovered  in  some  process  of  manufacture 
in  each  of  these  large  divisions.  The  extent  of  it  cannot  be  stated, 
but  it  is  of  the  utmost  significance  to  realize  that  the  system  has 
found  its  way  into  so  many  industries. 

The  Commission's  investigators  reported  that  in  193  factories 
investigated  the  total  number  of  factory  employees  was  4,330.  In 
addition  these  establishments  gave  work  to  3,113  home-workers 
or  42  per  cent  of  the  entire  number.  In  a  report  on  the  men's 
ready-made  clothing  trade  issued  by  the  United  States  govern- 


94  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

merit,*  it  is  stated  that  88   factories  investigated  reported  561 
home  workers. 

"  Nowhere  are  there  accurate  statistics  to  indicate  the 
extent  of  home  finishing  or  other  home  work,"  says  the  re- 
port, f  "  It  is  resorted  to  more  extensively  in  New  York 
and  less  proportionately  in  Chicago  than  elsewhere. 
There  are  solid  blocks  in  New  York  where,  by  actual  count, 
more  than  three-fourths  of  the  apartments  contain  home 
finishers." 

The  number  of  finishers  working  at  home  as  compared  with 
those  working  in  the  shops  in  this  branch  of  the  garment  trades 
in  New  York  City  is  stated  to  be  44.7  per  cent:}:  The  report 
continues : 

"  The  foregoing  figures,  it  should  be  remembered,  are  not 
representative  of  the  real  proportion  of  home  workers.  If  a 
manufacturer  with  a  large  inside  shop  says  that  he  employs 
no  home  workers,  that  statement  may  be  literally  true,  as  he 
refers  only  to  the  inside  shop  directly  operated  by  him.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  he  may  manufacture  only  about  one-fifth 
of  his  product  in  his  own  inside  shop,  while  four-fifths  of  it 
may  be  scattered  among  a  number  of  contractors,  who  in 
turn  may  give  out  all  the  garments  they  make  to  be  finished 
in  the  homes." 

Thus,  even  after  an  intensive  investigation  of  an  entire  industry 
has  been  made,  it  is  impossible  to  state  with  any  degree  of  ac- 
curacy what  proportion  of  firms  give  out  home  work  or  how  many 
home  workers  they  employ.  Nevertheless,  the  fact  that  the  work 
is  sent  out  to  homes  by  such  large  industries  indicates  its  probable 
extent. 

COMMUNITIES  IN  WHICH  HOME  WOEK  is  FOUND 

A  very  large  proportion  of  the  licenses  issued  for  home  work 
are  in  New  York  City,  that  is,  11,691,  as  compared  with  520 
outstanding  in  the  remainder  of  the  state  on  June  30,  1912. § 
The  reports  of  our  investigators  show,  however,  that  homework  is 

*  United  States  Government  Report  on  Condition  of  "Woman  and  Child 
Wage-earners  in  the  United  States,  Vol.  II,  Men's  Ready-Made  Clothing,  p.  260. 

t/bid,  p.  218. 

tlbid,  p.  219. 

§  New  York  State  Department  of  Labor,  Bulletin  No.  52,  September,  1912, 
p.  338. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  95 

by  no  means  confined  to  New  York  City.  They  found  home 
workers  engaged  in  rope-splicing  and  button-carding  in  Auburn; 
finishing  men's  clothing  in  Buffalo ;  carding  buttons  in  Lockport ; 
carding  hooks  and  eyes  in  Niagara  Falls ;  making  paper  boxes  and 
cigars,  sewing  buttons  on  shirts,  and  mending  maltsters'  bags  in 
Tonawanda ;  finishing  men's  clothing,  carding  buttons,  hooks,  and 
eyes,  working  on  children's  moccasins,  women's  neckwear,  paper 
boxes,  novelties,  sanitary  belts,  and  druggists'  specialties,  making 
seedsmen's  paper  bags,  fringe  and  passementerie  in  Rochester; 
finishing  men's  clothing,  making  willow  baskets,  sewing  fancy 
trimmings  on  waists,  and  crocheting  infants'  jackets  and  women's 
shawls  in  Syracuse ;  finishing  men's  clothing  and  crocheting  edges 
of  knit  underwear  in  Utica ;  trimming  felt  slippers  and  stitching 
gloves  in  Little  Falls ;  trimming  felt  slippers  in  Dolgeville ;  run- 
ning tapes  in  knit  underwear  in  Herkimer ;  making  and  trimming 
gloves  in  Gloversville ;  making  brushes  and  working  on  collars 
and  shirts  in  Troy  and  Cohoes;  and  making  willow  plumes  in 
Yonkers. 

Long  as  is  this  list,  it  probably  is  not  long  enough  to  show 
actual  conditions.  As  the  investigation  was  made  between  May 
and  August,  the  slack  season  in  many  of  these  trades,  comprehen- 
sive data  could  not  be  secured.  The  significant  fact,  however, 
was  that  home  workers  in  the  up-state  cities  live  in  dwellings 
which  house  one  or  two  families,  thus  not  coming  within  the 
scope  of  the  law  regulating  "  tenement "  manufacture,  since  a 
tenement  is  legally  defined  as  the  dwelling-place  of  three  or  more 
families. 

Thus,  the  law  designed  to  regulate  homework  does  not  even 
apply  to  a  large  number  of  homeworkers,  who  work  on  products 
not  named  in  the  law,  or  who  live  in  houses  not  legally 
tenements. 

SANITARY  CONDITIONS 

A  license  is  granted  by  the  Department  of  Labor  to  the  land- 
lord or  his  agent  for  the  entire  house,  not  for  a  worker,  or  family, 
or  apartment.  It  is  issued  only  after  examination  by  the  Com- 
missioner of  Labor  of  the  records  of  the  local  department  of 
health  and  the  tenement  house  department.  If  these  records 
show  any  orders  outstanding  against  the  building  or  reveal  any 


96  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

infectious  or  contagious  disease  among  the  tenants,  the  commis- 
sioner may  withhold  the  license  until  the  records  show  that  the 
premises  are  in  satisfactory  sanitary  condition.  Before  issuing 
the  license,  an  inspector  visits  the  premises,  and  reports  in  writing 
the  result  of  his  inspections. 

In  the  effort  to  insure  the  continuance  of  satisfactory  sanitary 
conditions  after  the  granting  of  the  license,  the  statute  has  been 
elaborated  with  an  attention  to  detail  which  strikingly  reveals  the 
difficulty  of  enforcement.  Licensed  tenements  are  required  to  be 
inspected  by  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  once  in  six  months  (a 
task  for  the  accomplishment  of  which  the  state  has  never  yet 
provided  even  an  approximately  sufficient  number  of  inspectors). 
A  sanitary  building  may  be  occupied  by  tenants  with  low  stand- 
ards of  cleanliness.  The  law  therefore  provides  that  if  a  room 
or  apartment  in  a  licensed  tenement  is  found  to  be  habitually 
filthy,  a  sign  may  be  affixed  to  the  entrance  of  that  apartment 
forbidding  its  use  for  home  work  on  any  of  the  articles  specified 
in  the  law.  If  an  occupant  of  an  apartment  has  contracted  a  con- 
tagious disease,  no  article  mentioned  in  the  law  may  be  manu- 
factured therein  until  the  board  of  health  certifies  that  the  disease 
has  terminated  and  that  the  rooms  have  been  properly  disinfected. 

The  Commissioner  has  power  to  revoke  the  license  if  it 
is  brought  to  his  attention  that  any  licensed  tenement  is  no  longer 
sanitary.  Articles  manufactured  in  violation  of  the  law  may  be 
labeled  by  the  commissioner  with  a  tag  bearing  the  words  "  Tene- 
ment-made," or  they  may  be  seized  and  held  by  him  until  they 
have  been  disinfected  or  until  the  law  has  been  otherwise  com- 
plied with.  Landlord,  tenant,  and  manufacturer  are  each  re- 
sponsible for  violations  of  the  statute. 

Reports  of  the  Commission's  investigators  and  the  testimony 
reveal  the  great  difficulties  in  the  way,  of  enforcing  this,  the  basic 
provision  of  the  state's  attempt  to  insure  a  minimum  standard 
of  sanitation  in  the  dwellings  of  home  workers.  Investigators 
reported  the  following  instances : 

One  family  was  found  running  ribbons  and  sewing  buttons 
on  corset  covers.  The  father  has  had  tuberculosis  for  several 
years.  He  had  just  been  sent  away  to  the  country.  The 
house  had  not  been  fumigated,  and  the  members  of  the  family 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  97 

were  still  working.  Moreover,  they  were  working  all  the 
time  the  father  was  ill. 

In  another  house,  where  four  members  of  the  family  had 
been  sick  with  typhoid,  and  one  was  just  convalescent,  the 
family  was  working  on  feathers.  Mary  one  member  of  the 
family  had  been  doing  the  work  all  through  her  convalescence. 

In  another  house,  a  young  woman  whose  father  was  finally 
sent  away  to  a  tuberculosis  hospital,  was  working  on  dolls' 
clothes  in  the  same  room  where  her  sick  father  lay.  A  re- 
lief society  had  refused  this  young  woman  further  assistance 
unless  she  also  would  go  to  a  tuberculosis  hospital.  She  re- 
fused to  do  this,  and  is  working  on  dolls'  clothes  with  tuber- 
culosis progressing  towards  its  final  stages. 

In  another  family  which  was  visited  the  mother  was  out. 
The  daughter  went  upstairs  for  her,  followed  by  the  investi- 
gator, who  saw  the  mother  come  out  of  an  apartment,  on  the 
door  of  which  the  Board  of  Health  had  posted  "  Diphtheria." 
When  the  mother  had  returned  to  her  own  apartment,  she 
fell  to  work  on  the  willow  plumes  which  were  lying  on  the 
table  near  a  pile  of  clothing.  After  the  interview  she  went 
upstairs  again  to  the  supposedly  quarantined  apartment.  In 
the  same  house  were  four  apartments  in  which  there  had 
been  diphtheria  since  September,  1912.  (This  investigation 
was  made  November  9,  1912). 

Among  homeworking  families,  our  investigators  found  many 
cases  of  impetigo,  a  loathsome  skin  trouble,  which  is  con- 
tagious, and  practically  due  to  dirt.  A  child,  whose  face  and 
head  were  sore  with  this  eruption,  was  seen  playing  with  a  felt 
slipper  just  manufactured.  In  another  instance,  a  child  with  this 
disease  was  lying  on  a  bundle  of  finished  clothes,  while  in  a  third 
case  a  little  girl  suffering  with  impetigo  was  picking  nuts  for  a 
factory. 

In  one  apartment  visited  a  woman  was  found  working  on  pas- 
sementerie while  her  young  son  was  lying  in  bed  ill  with  measles. 

Dr.  Annie  S.  Daniels,  who  has  been  a  practicing  physician  since 
1876,  and  who  is  now  in  charge  of  the  out-door  practice  of  the 
New  York  Infirmary  for  Women  and  Children,  testified  that 
during  the  year  ending  October,  1912,  she  had  found  in  her  visits 
in  tenements  182  families  engaged  in  home  manufacture  of  some 

7 


98  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

description.  Of  these,  35  families  were  at  work  in  unlicensed 
houses.  Part  of  her  testimony  was  as  follows : 

"I  have  found  during  this  past  year,  182  families,  79  with 
contagious  diseases  doing  this  tenement-house  work.  One 
family  was  embroidering  monograms  and  three  of  the  child- 
ren were  sick  with  measles.  The  woman  was  embroidering 
monograms  on  table  napkins.  I  found  sixteen  cases  of  scarlet 
fever  during  the  entire  time.  Where  they  had  scarlet  fever, 
most  of  the  people  were  finishing  men's  clothing;  that  is 
doing  all  the  hand  sewing  that  is  done  on  men's  coats  and 
trousers.  The  children  had  scarlet  fever.  The  work  was 
being  done  in  the  same  room  where  they  were  sick,  and  dur- 
ing the  convalescence  of  the  child,  by  the  child,  sometimes 
while  the  child  was  peeling.  The  law  requires  us  to  report 
every  one  of  those  cases  *  *  *  the  notice  of  the  Board 
of  Health  of  a  contagious  disease  was  on  the  door  while  the 
work  was  going  on.  I  found  nine  cases  of  tuberculosis 
among  the  182  families,  all  of  them  working.  Tuberculosis 
can  be  carried.  There  was  one  family,  where  they  were 
making  buttons  for  women's  clothes — that  is  covering  buttons 
for  women's  clothes.  One  of  these  children  was  three  years 
old ;  the  mother  had  tuberculosis.  The  mother  was  working 
herself,  and  the  children  were  working.  I  found  two  cases 
of  poliomyelitis,  an  infectious  paralytic  disease  of  children. 
The  exact  nature  of  how  that  is  carried  is  not  known.  It  is 
contagious  from  child  to  child.  It  is  a  very  horrible  disease. 
I  know  one  case  where  the  child  died  and  the  woman  hardly 
stopped  her  work  while  the  child  was  dying.  She  was 
finishing  trousers.  I  was  present  at  that  time. 

Q.  And  the  child  was  dying?     A.  The  child  was  dying. 

Q.  And  the  woman  did  not  stop  work  ?     A.  She  could  not. 

Q.  She  had  to A.  She  had  to  do  it;  her  husband  was 

a  gambler.  The  woman  was  somewhere  between  25  and  30 
years  old.  The  child  was  about — less  than  two  years  old ; 
eighteen  months.  The  woman  was  working  in  the  same  room 
where  the  child  was  sick ;  they  had  only  two  rooms. 

The  relation  of  the  home-work  system  to  the  campaign  for 
stamping  out  tuberculosis  was  thus  defined  by  Dr.  S.  Adolphus 
Knopf,  professor  of  diseases  of  the  lungs  at  the  !N"ew  York  Post 
Graduate  Medical  School : 

"  The  work  in  the  tenements  by  adults,  as  well  as  by  chil- 
dren, I  hold  largely  responsible  for  the  great  morbidity  and 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  99 

mortality  of  tuberculosis  in  this  city.  The  bad  ventilation  of 
the  tenement  house,  added  to  the  inhalation  of  dust  by  the 
workers,  and  the  frequency  of  tuberculosis  among  them, 
causes  the  fearful  condition  which  we  are  now  trying  to 
combat.  I  firmly  believe  that  if  we  could  do  away  with  this 
one  source  of  propagation  of  tuberculosis,  we  would  reduce 
the  mortality  and  morbidity  very  greatly. 

"  You  know  how  tuberculosis  spreads.  One  single  indi- 
vidual in  a  family  is  capable  of  infecting  a  number  of  them 
within  a  very  short  time.  Most  of  the  tubercular  workers 
are  not  trained  and  are  not  educated  how  to  dispose  of  their 
sputum.  They  expectorate  more  or  less,  and  when  this 
carelessly  expectorated  material  dries  and  is  pulverized,  and 
is  inhaled  with  the  dust  in  the  so-called  factory  at  home,  it 
is  inevitable  that  any  number  of  them  become  infected. 

"  In  the  Gouverneur  Hospital  Dispensary  for  tuberculars, 
we  have  made  very  careful  tabulations  and  found  that  37  per 
cent,  of  all  the  tuberculars  who  applied  there  for  relief  were 
garment  workers.  It  is  among  the  workers  in  this  trade  that 
tuberculosis  is  most  prevalent. 

"  We  will  never  be  able  to  eradicate  this  disease  from  our 
midst  unless  we  take  energetic  steps  and  stop  work  at  home. 
Every  tenement  home  which  is  utilized  for  work  predisposes 
the  workers  to  tuberculosis.  They  inhale  the  bad  air;  they 
work  long  hours,  and  in  addition,  very  often  are  underfed. 

"  In  the  children  whom  we  put  to  work  we  have  another 
type  of  tuberculosis,  and  these  children  later  on  invariably 
fall  victims  to  the  more  serious  type  and  become  a  burden  to 
the  community. 

"  We  spend  millions  of  dollars  annually  in  this  city  and 
other  cities  for  the  cure  of  tuberculosis,  and  we  spend  that 
money  in  vain,  because  by  our  deficient  laws  regarding  proper 
housing,  regarding  child  labor,  regarding  labor  in  factories 
and  homes,  we  produce  consumptives  every  day  anew,  and  all 
the  millions  of  dollars  spent  for  their  cure  and  care  is 
useless." 

The  danger  to  the  consumer  from  conditions  in  the  men's  ready- 
made  clothing  trade  is  thus  summarized  in  the  United  States 
government  report  to  which  reference  has  already  been  made : 

"  The  results  of  this  investigation  show  that  men's  ready- 
made  clothing  is  often  made,  or  at  least  finished,  in  the  homes 


100  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

of  a  class  of  people  whose  under-nourished  condition,  due  to 
poverty  and  lack  of  thrift  and  hygienic  sense,  general  low 
standard  of  living,  and  dirty  habits  make  them  most  suscep- 
tible to  contagious  diseases;  hence  it  is  asserted  that  the 
practice  of  giving  out  to  workers  garments  to  be  finished  or 
made  up  in  their  homes  is  to  place  the  wearer  in  the  way  of 
contracting  tuberculosis  and  other  contagious  or  infectious 
diseases,  or  of  catching  vermin. 

"  As  stated,  in  the  two  congested  blocks  of  New  York  City, 
where  a  large  proportion  of  the  men's  ready-made  clothing 
sold  all  over  the  United  States  is  sent  to  be  finished,  the 
death  rates  due  to  contagious  diseases  are  abnormal. 

"  During  this  investigation  it  was  learned  that  doctors  who 
will  agree  to  conceal  diseases  from  the  health  department,  are 
the  most  popular  with  garment  workers.  Agents  of  the 
bureau  found  women  working  on  garments  while  children  in 
the  house  were  suffering  from  contagious  diseases.  They 
would  put  the  garments  down  from  time  to  time  to  minister 
to  or  fondle  such  children.  To  the  inquiry  as  to  why  there 
was  no  '  sign  on  the  house,'  it  was  sometimes  said  that  the 
doctor  was  '  nice,'  '  had  sorrow  '  for  them,  or  knew  they  were 
1  poor  women  with  lots  of  children,'  so  he  '  wouldn't  tell  on 
them/  because  if  he  did,  the  police  wouldn't  let  them  work. 
The  home  finishers  could  not  understand  why  when  disease 
was  present  they  could  not  continue  to  work  at  the  time  of 
all  times  when  they  needed  the  money  most."  * 

That  the  United  States  Government  recognizes  the  danger  of 
contagion  through  tenement  manufacture  is  set  forth  in  the  fol- 
lowing quotation,  from  a  review  of  Professor  Common's  testimony 
before  the  industrial  commission : 

"  '  While  neither  the  Federal  Government  nor  any  state 
government  has  undertaken  to  abolish  tenement-house  work 
where  the  work  is  sold  to  private  purchasers,  yet  where  the 
Federal  Government  is  itself  a  purchaser  of  clothing  it  has 
undertaken  to  establish  this  condition.  Since  the  Spanish- 
American  war,  when  it  seemed  to  be  clearly  demonstrated 
that  the  contagion  of -measles  and  other  diseases  in  the  army 
was  owing  directly  to  tenement-house  manufacture,  the  War 
Department  has  inserted  in  its  contracts  with  the  manufac- 

*  Report  on  Condition  of  Woman  and  Child  Wage-earners  in  the  United 
States,  Vol.  II,  pp.  306-307.  For  details  of  cases  on  which  this  statement  is 
based,  see  pp.  307-309. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  101 

turers  of  military  garments  that  all  work  must  be  done  in  a 
regularly  organized  factory,  and  no  part  of  the  work  shall  be 
sublet  to  contractors.  In  the  several  States  clothing  for  the 
Xational  Guard  is  usually  purchased  from  the  War  Depart- 
ment, and  is,  therefore,  protected  by  the  specifications  of  that 
department ;  but  in  those  States  where  clothing  is  purchased 
by  the  state  authorities  there  exist  at  present  but  few 
restrictions.' ' 

LACK  OF  CARE  TAKEN  BY  MANUFACTURERS  TO  PROTECT 
CONSUMERS 

Special  inquiry  was  made  to  discover  whether  the  manu- 
facturers took  any  precautions  to  ascertain  conditions  in  the  homes 
to  which  they  gave  out  articles  to  be  manufactured  or  finished. 
The  investigators  of  the  Commission  reported  that  80  per  cent, 
of  the  addresses  of  home  workers  furnished  them  by  manu- 
facturers proved  to  be  incorrect.  Either  the  families  had  never 
lived  at  the  addresses  given  or  they  had  moved  elsewhere  without 
taking  the  trouble  to  change  the  record  at  the  factory.  The  em- 
ployers who  appeared  before  the  Commission  testified  as  follows 
regarding  their  knowledge  of  conditions  in  the  workers'  homes : 

1.  A  manufacturer  of  crotchet  ed  goods:    (Including  bedroom 
slippers.) 

"  I  do  not  keep  any  track  of  their  homes,  or  where  they 
do  their  work.  There  is  no  inspection  of  any  kind,  as  there 
is  in  my  factory.  In  my  factory  I  am  amenable  to  the 
factory  inspection  law,  and  the  Board  of  Health  and  the 
Fire  Department,  while  the  people  who  do  the  work  at  home, 
do  it  wherever  they  please  and  whenever  they  please." 

2.  A  manufacturer  of  dolls'  toys:   (The  dolls'  dresses  are  made 
by  home  workers.) 

"  I  keep  track  partly  of  where  the  goods  are  made.  I  mean 
when  we  give  out  a  gross  of  garments  we  give  to  the  woman 
a  ticket.  On  that  ticket  is  her  name  and  address.  We  keep 
one,  she  keeps  one;  that  is  all  we  know  about  it.  We  do  not 
investigate  the  homes.  We  try  to  govern  that  by  their  ad- 
dresses. I  look  at  the  addresses;  if  the  address  looks  all 
right,  and  the  woman  looks  all  right,  I  give  her  the  goods. 
I  have  never  gone  into  any  of  the  places  myself,  or  sent  any- 


102  HEPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

body  to  see  under  what  conditions  these  dresses  are  made. 
These  dolls,  after  they  are  made  and  dressed,  are  sold  to  the 
retail  stores,  and  are  used  by  the  children  of  the  city." 

3.  An  employer  of  hand-embroiderers:    (Monograms.) 

This  was  the  only  employer  who  testified  that  he  or  his  daughter 
always  inspected  the  homes  where  his  work  was  done,  and  that  in 
case  of  sickness  no  work  was  given  to  the  family.  His  reason 
was  thus  brought  out: 

"  Q.  Why  are  you  so  careful  about  the  sickness  part  ? 
A.  Well,  I  will  tell  you.  Three  or  four  years  ago,  we  had  a 
child,  my  own  child ;  she  came  in  the  factory,  and  she  takes 
the  diphtheria,  and  in  three  days  she  dies.  After  that  we 
are  very  careful  in  the  factory,  too." 

4.  Manufacturer  of  fancy  leather  goods. 

His  work  was  given  out  to  a  contractor  who  in  turn  employed 
the  home  workers. 

"  I  don't  know  where  she  has  it  done.  I  don't  follow 
that  up." 

5.  Manufacturer  of  cigarettes:    (Hand-made  with  monograms.) 
He  testified  that  some  of  his  shop  employees  took  work  home 

at  night. 

"  I  have  never  investigated  to  find  out  where  they  live. 
These  men  who  do  the  work  in  their  homes,  do  it  wherever  they 
live,  and  wherever  there  may  be  disease  or  sickness  or  any- 
thing. I  don't  know  anything  about  that  at  all. 

6.  Manufacturer  of  made-to-order  cigarettes. 

"  It  (the  home  work)  is  done  in  pretty  low-grade  tenement 
houses,  although  the  people  make  good  money;  they  live  in 
pretty  filthy  surroundings — that  is  not  my  fault,  but  that  is 
a  fact.  I  am  afraid  that  is  true." 

7.  Manufacturer  of  cigarettes  and  tobacco:    (With  gilt  mono- 
grams, made  to  order.) 

He  stated  that  only  the  hand-made  cigarettes  were  given  to 
home-workers,  and  to  only  three  of  them: 

"  I  do  not  know  where  this  man  (one  of  the  home  workers) 
lives.  These  two  people  I  have  mentioned  live  on  the  east 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  103 

side  somewhere.     I  have  never  been  in  the  place  where  they 
make  these  cigarettes." 

8.  Manufacturer  of  confectionery. 

(Cracking  pecan  nuts  and  extracting  meat  is  the  task  of 
home  workers.) 

"  I  never  saw  the  places  where  the  work  is  done.  They 
do  it  in  tenement  houses.  I  do  not  know  whether  the  people 
are  sick  or  anything  about  them  at  all.  If  we  find  that  there 
are  some  sick  people  in  some  houses,  we  would  not  give  them 
any  more  work.  Once  in  a  while  we  find  it  out  through 
other  people.  But  I  do  not  know  whether  or  not  people  are 
sick  where  they  do  this  work. 

Q.  How  do  they  pick  the  meat  out  of  the  nuts  ?  Do  they 
have  any  instrument  or  do  they  pick  it  out  with  their  fingers  ? 
A.  They  should  pick  it  out  with  an  instrument,  a  knife. 
We  do  not  give  them  the  knife. 

Q.  Do  you  know  if  they  crack  the  nuts  with  their  teeth  ? 
A.  They  should  not  do  that.  I  do  not  know  whether  they  do 
or  not." 

To  sum  up,  these  eight  manufacturers  who  testified  before  the 
Commission  all,  with  one  exception,  declared  that  they  made  no 
effort  to  find  out  the  conditions  under  which  their  goods  were 
made.  The  only  employer  who  testified  to  having  made  any 
effort  to  inspect  the  homes  of  his  outworkers  was  the  one  who, 
through  the  death  of  his  own  child  by  contagious  disease  contracted 
from  one  of  his  factory  employees,  had  become  convinced  of  the 
necessity  for  inspection. 

It  seems  evident  that  home  work  is  a  danger  to  the  health  of 
the  community,  and  that  the  effort  to  maintain  proper  sanitary 
conditions  is  so  herculean  a  task  as  to  be  wholly  illusory  as  a  safe- 
guard of  public  health. 

CHILD  LABOR  IN  TENEMENT  MANUFACTURE 

One  of  the  most  serious  charges  brought  against  the  home- 
work system  is  that  it  has  made  legally  possible  the  work  of  little 
children  in  manufacturing  pursuits  at  home,  when  the  law  rigidly 
excludes  them  from  such  occupations  in  the  factories. 


104  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

To  determine  the  extent  of  child  labor  at  home  is  difficult. 
The  work  of  children  is  easily  concealed  and  as  a  result  factory 
inspectors  find  few  children  at  work,  whereas  social  workers, 
physicians,  and  teachers  state  that  little  children  are  often  steadily 
employed  in  home  work.  In  some  of  the  occupations,  like  hand 
embroidery,  the  work  is  too  highly  skilled  to  be  done  by  very 
little  children.  In  several  households  visited,  there  were  no  chil- 
dren under  sixteen.  The  investigators  reported  that  79  school 
children  in  47  families  were  actually  found  at  work  after  school. 
Fourteen  others  who  were  too  young  to  attend  school  or  who 
had  dropped  out  as  soon  as  they  were  fourteen  admitted  that 
they  worked  regularly.  Of  the  79  children,  7  were  between 
five  and  eight  years  old,  14  eight  to  eleven,  33  eleven  to  fourteen, 
25  fourteen  or  fifteen,  while  the  ages  of  six  obviously  under 
sixteen  were  not  recorded. 

An  investigation  made  in  New  York  in  the  spring  of  1912  and 
reported  by  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee  in  our  Pre- 
liminary Report  showed  the  following  facts  regarding  child 
workers : 

Nut-picking:  41  families  visited,  having  91  children,  77  of 
whom  were  found  at  work. 

Making  brushes:  41  families  visited,  having  72  children,  of 
whom  69  were  found  at  work. 

Making  dolls'  clothes:  66  families  visited  and  35  children 
found  at  work. 

Making  artificial  flowers:  33  families  visited  and  70  children 
found  at  work. 

Thus,  in  these  four  occupations,  251  children  under  sixteen 
were  found  at  work  in  181  households. 

In  the  men's  ready-made  clothing  trade  in  New  York  the  United 
States  government  investigators  found  81  children  at  work,  of 
whom  3  were  five  years  old,  1  six,  3  seven,  5  eight,  7  nine,  5  ten, 
8  eleven,  21  twelve,  8  thirteen,  14  fourteen,  and  6  fifteen.  The 
investigators  believed  that  this  number  understated  the  extent  of 
child  labor. 

"  Unless  a  child  was  caught  working  it  was  seldom   ad- 
mitted that  such  child  did  work."  *     "  Sometimes  upon  a 

*  Government  Report  on  Condition  of  Woman  and  Child  Wage-earners  in 
the  United  States,  Vol.  II,  p.  230. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  105 

first  visit  they  denied  working,  but  were  found  at  work  when 
visited  again.  Often  as  an  agent  entered  a  house  where 
children  were  at  work,  a  sudden  dropping  and  concealing  of 
the  work  was  noticed.  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  agents  on 
this  investigation  that  all  children  of  a  household  where 
home  work  is  done  are  drafted  into  this  work  with  more  or 
less  regularity,  after  school,  at  night,  and  on  Sunday." 

The  following  are  a  few  instances  of  child  labor  reported  by  our 
inspectors : 

It  is  no  uncommon  sight  to  find  four  and  five  year-old 
babies  making  flowers.  Little  Camilla  only  three  years  old 
was  found  in  the  afternoon  of  November  15th,  1912,  running 
ribbons  in  corset  covers.  Rosie,  her  11  year-old  sister,  was 
taking  care  of  the  baby,  while  Elsa,  age  6,  and  Camilla 
helped  mother. 

Angelina  says,  "  When  I  go  home  from  school  I  help  my 
mother  to  work — I  help  her  earn  the  money — I  do  not  play 
at  all.  I  get  up  at  six  o'clock  and  I  go  to  bed  at  ten  o'clock." 

Camilla,  9  years  old,  says,  "  I  have  no  time  for  play, 
when  I  go  home  from  school,  I  help  my  mother.  Half  hour 
I  make  my  lessons.  Every  morning  I  get  up  at  6  o'clock — 
I  go  to  bed  at  11  o'clock." 

Giovanna  :  "  I  get  up  at  5  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Then 
I  work  with  my  mother.  At  9  o'clock  I  go  to  school.  I  have 
no  time  for  play.  I  must  work  by  feathers.  At  10  o'clock 
I  go  to  bed." 

Maria  :  "  T  have  no  time  to  play  when  I  work  by  my 
mother,  but  when  I  don't  work,  I  mind  the  baby  and  clean 
the  house." 

Little  9-year  old  Antoinette :  "  I  earn  money  for  my 
mother  after  school,  and  on  Saturday,  and  half  day  Sundays. 
"No,  I  do  not  play,  I  must  work ;  I  get  up  to  work  at  4  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  I  go  to  bed  at  9  o'clock." 

Michaelina  is  not  quite  14  years  old.  She  crochets  Irish 
lace.  She  gets  up  at  5 :30  every  morning,  prepares  her 
father's  breakfast,  crochets  one  hour  before  going  to  school, 
works  again  two  hours  after  school,  and  takes  care  of  the 
baby.  Pasqualina,  her  sister,  is  12  years  old.  She  gets  up 
at  six  o'clock  and  crochets  an  hour  and  a  half  every  morning 
before  going  to  school,  and  three  hours  every  day  after 
school.  It  takes  two  and  a  half  hours  to  make  one  voke  for 


106  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

which  the  children  receive  nine  cents,  but  as  each  yoke  takes 
a  spool  of  thread,  two  and  a  half  cents  is  deducted  from  the 
profits.  Working  together  the  two  children  make  25  cents 
a  day. 

Francesca,  12  years  old,  works  from  3 :30  P.  M.  to  9:30 
p.  M.  crocheting  slippers.  Even  her  little  fingers  can  make 
eight  or  nine  slippers  in  six  hours.  (These  are  children's 
slippers,  and  it  takes  from  one-half  to  three-quarters  of  an 
hour  to  make  one  slipper). 

Nicolina  is  9  years  old.  She  cuts  embroidery  four  hours 
every  day  and  two  hours  at  night.  Little  Pasqualina,  her  8 
year-old  sister,  helps  too,  and  together  they  can  make  $2  a 
week. 

Two  children,  one  nine  and  one  seven  years  old,  appeared  be- 
fore us  with  their  mother  and  told  of  their  work  at  home.  Mary 
Piccolino,  aged  nine,  denied  at  first  that  she  had  ever  worked,  then 
said  that  once  she  worked  on  corset  covers,  and  then  told  how  she 
actually  helped  every  evening  to  run  ribbons  through  the  corset 
covers  which  her  mother  brought  home  after  the  day's  work  in 
the  factory.  Her  sister,  Camilla,  aged  seven,  was  a  clear-headed 
little  witness.  She  said  that  she  helped  to  make  corset  covers 
every  afternoon  and  that  she  worked  until  eight  o'clock  in  the 
evening. 

Dr.  F.  Josephine  Baker,  director  of  the  Division  of  Child 
Hygiene  of  the  Department  of  Health  of  New  York,  testified  re- 
garding the  effect  of  home  work  on  the  health  of  school  children. 
She  explained  that  a  large  number  of  the  children  in  the  public 
schools  suffer  from  some  physical  defect,  and  these  defects  are  due 
very  largely  to  the  conditions  of  their  home  life — lack  of  proper 
ventilation,  or  of  proper  hygiene,  overwork,  lack  of  play  and 
proper  exercise.  When  asked  why  work  after  school  hours  might 
cause  ill-health  or  physical  defects  in  children,  she  replied : 

"  Because  the  children  are  just  at  the  age  when  they  are 
naturally  developing  and  growing,  and  when  they  need  a 
larger  amount  of  free  air  and  more  freedom  than  adults  do, 
and  the  effect  of  bad  air,  close  confinement,  and  vitiated 
atmosphere,  are  very  much  worse  for  children  than  they 
possibly  can  be  for  grown  people.  These  children  go  to 
school  in  the  morning,  are  heavy,  dull  and  tired.  They  are 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  107 

not  able  to  study.  They  suffer  from  headaches  and  most  of 
them  have  malnutrition — that  is,  they  suffer  from  lack  of 
proper  nutrition,  they  are  anemic." 

This  statement  of  the  effect  of  home  work  on  school  children 
was  confirmed  by  observations  of  a  teacher  and  a  principal  in  two 
public  schools  in  !NTew  York.  They  pointed  out  also  that  home 
work  prevented  the  children  from  keeping  up  with  their  classes 
and  was  a  cause  of  truancy. 

Testimony  was  given  by  the  chairman  of  the  Scholarship  Com- 
mittee of  the  ]STew  York  Child  Labor  Committee  that  "  when  a 
child  is  unable  to  get  its  working  papers  at  the  proper  time  it  is 
very  often  due  to  the  fact  that  at  some  stage  of  school  life  it  has 
been  working  at  home  and  has  been  kept  away  from  school,"  and 
that  "  a  large  part  of  truancy  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  child  starts 
working  at  home,  at  first  after  school  hours.  He  finds  that  it  is 
difficult  or  impossible  to  keep  up  in  his  studies  to  the  required 
standard,  and  then  gradually  drops  out  of  school." 

Evidence  of  the  relation  of  the  early  toil  of  these  children  to 
delinquency  in  adolescent  years,  was  presented  by  Miss  Maud  E. 
Miner,  secretary  of  the  Probation  Association: 

"  I  have  seen  girls  from  these  homes,  who  have  been  lead- 
ing lives  of  immorality  and  lives  of  prostitution.  I  have 
known  of  girls  who  have  told  me  that  they  have  become  tired 
of  work  long  before  it  was  time  for  them  to  go  to  work;  in 
other  words,  before  they  could  go  out  into  the  factory,  simply 
because  they  had  to  work  in  the  home  day  after  day,  night 
after  night,  and  on  Sunday." 

The  labor  law  forbids  the  employment  of  any  child  under  four- 
teen years  of  age  in,  or  in  connection  with,  any  manufacturing 
establishment,  and  provides  that  no  child  between  the  ages  of 
fourteen  and  sixteen  shall  be  employed  before  8  A.  M.  or  after 
5  P.  M.,  or  more  than  8  hours  in  any  one  day.  By  means  of  home 
work  a  manufacturer  may  utilize  the  labor  of  children  of  any 
age  for  unlimited  hours  provided  that  the  children  of  school  age, 
7  to  16  years,  attend  school  between  the  hours  of  9  A.  M.  and  3 
p.  M.  Home  work  is  a  menace  to  the  physical,  mental,  and  moral 
well-being  of  children. 


108  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

UNRESTRICTED  HOURS  OF  LABOR  FOR  WOMEN  IN  THE  HOME 
WORK  SYSTEM 

Section  77  of  the  labor  law  prohibits  women  from  working 
more  than  9  hours  in  any  one  day  or  more  than  54  hours  in  a 
week  in  a  factory.  It  further  provides  that  if  a  woman  is  em- 
ployed in  two  establishments  consecutively  within  twenty-four 
hours,  the  total  number  of  hours  of  labor  in  both  places  of  employ- 
ment must  not  exceed  the  total  legally  permitted  in  a  single  factory. 
A  home  in  which  manufacturing  is  carried  on  is  not  a  factory 
in  the  eyes  of  the  law.  The  54-hour  law,  therefore,  does  not  apply 
to  work  done  in  tenements  where  workers  can  be  engaged  in 
factory  work  to  any  hour  of  the  night. 

One  of  our  inspectors  reports  the  following  interview  with  a 
home  worker: 

"  I  saw  her  last  Monday  and  asked  whether  she  was  doing 
any  work.  She  said  no,  it  was  very  quiet,  but  that  on 
Friday  she  had  received  a  special  call  to  come  for  some  beads 
because  there  was  a  rush  order,  and  she  had  to  work  all  night. 
She  was  given  a  gross  of  these  beads  to  finish  and  sometimes 
she  has  a  daughter  of  about  twelve  who  helps  her  after  school 
hours  to  help  her  at  night  with  these 'beads.  She  said  it  took 
her  all  night.  I  didn't  ask  her  whether  she  got  any  sleep 
that  night,  but  she  said  she  worked  all  night  to  get  them  at 
the  factory  the  next  morning  at  eight  o'clock.  She  was 
compelled  to  work  all  night  to  get  one  gross  finished." 

In  the  investigators'  report  it  was  stated  that  some  Italian 
girls  were  found  who  work  downtown  in  a  bathing-suit  factory 
from  8  A.  M.  to  6  P.  M.  They  return  home  for  supper,  and 
crochet  slippers  until  10  and  11  o'clock  at  night.  Employers  in 
the  embroidery  industry  stated  that  90  per  cent,  of  their  shop 
hands  are  obliged  during  the  rush  season  to  take  work  home  at 
night. 

That  the  hours  of  work  of  women  employed  only  in  homework 
are  not  limited  by  law  is  an  obvious  fact.  That  women  and  girls 
who  toil  in  the  factories  by  day  may  legally  take  work  home  at 
night  shows  how  homework  frustrates  the  intent  of  the  54-hour 
law. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  109 

EARNINGS  OF  HOME  WORKERS 

Accurate  information  regarding  earnings  is  difficult  to  secure, 
owing  to  the  chaotic  conditions  of  the  home-work  system.  Em- 
ployers keep  a  record  of  the  amounts  paid  to  the  workers  who  ap- 
pear at  the  factory,  but  they  have  no  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
number  of  workers  or  the  time  required  to  earn  these  amounts. 
Statements  regarding  the  hours  of  work  and  the  number  of  workers 
and  the  prices  paid  for  various  kinds  of  work  vary  so  that  earnings 
per  capita  or  per  hour  are  not  clear.  Nevertheless,  the  records  of 
our  investigators'  interviews  with  home  workers  and  the  testimony 
of  witnesses  furnish  data. 

Of  277*  families  visited,  258  gave  information  about  wages, 
and  of  those  only  18  reported  that  their  usual  weekly  earnings 
from  home  work  amounted  to  $6  or  more. 

Testimony  was  given  by  a  neckwear  manufacturer  that  women 
taking  work  from  his  factory  to  be  made  at  home  averaged  from 
$6.67  to  $8.15  a  week  for  the  entire  year. 

From  the  earnings  of  home  workers  certain  factory  expenses 
must  be  met  by  the  home  worker.  The  obvious  costs  of  rent,  light 
and  heat  are  transferred  to  the  home  worker  by  the  manufacturer. 
One  woman  did  not  work  at  night  because  she  could  not  make 
enough  to  pay  for  the  gas  burned ;  another  was  found  crocheting 
by  the  light  from  a  street  lamp. 

Moreover,  the  home  worker  often  must  provide  her  own  equip- 
ment, such  as  crochet  needles,  scissors  and  sewing  machine  needles, 
and  sewing  machines  with  special  attachments  when  such  are 
required. 

In  certain  trades,  materials  also  must  in  many  cases  be  paid 
for  out  of  the  home  worker's  wages.  For  example,  workers  in 
Irish  crochet  must  buy  their  own  crochet  cotton.  An  Irish  crochet 
yoke  for  which  the  worker  received  9  cents  required  an  outlay  of 
2 1/2  cents  for  thread. 

In  nut  picking,  there  are  always  some  broken  nuts  which  must 
be  separated  from  the  whole  nuts  and  returned  to  the  employer. 
The  pay,  4c.  or  4^c.  per  pound,  covers  only  the  unbroken  nuts. 
For  broken  nuts,  the  worker  receives  nothing,  although  the  break- 
ing comes  less  often  from  careless  picking  than  from  the  quality 

*  This   does   not   include   29    families  working-  on   tobacco. 


110  REPOIIT  OF  COMMISSION*. 

of    the    nut    itself  or   from   the   machine   cracking    done   by   the 
factory. 

Mandalino  Vitrani,  a  home  worker  28  years  old,  whose  husband 
earns  sometimes  ten  and  sometimes  twelve  dollars  a  week  in  a 
candy  factory,  told  the  Commission  about  the  pay  which  she  re- 
ceives for  running  in  ribbons  and  sewing  buttons  on  corset  covers. 

"  For  sewing  buttons  and  one  line  of  ribbons  on  a  dozen 
six  cents;  if  there  is  two  lines  of  ribbons,  nine  cents  for  a 
dozen.  Q.  How  many  dozen  do  you  make  a  day,  or  how 
many  dozen  do  you  fix  a  day?  A.  It  depends  on  as  many 
as  I  get,  sometimes  ten  dozen,  and  sometimes  eleven,  also 
depending  upon  the  number  of  yards  of  ribbon  I  must 
sew."  *  *  *  "  If  I  have  plenty  of  work,  a  dollar,  as  a 
rule  50  or  75  cents  I  make  in  one  day.  I  can't  work  all  day, 
but  I  do  as  much  as  I  can.  I  have  other  duties,  household 
duties  and  so  on.  The  day  I  made  the  dollar,  I  worked 
until  eight  or  nine  or  ten  o'clock  at  night." 

Samples  of  goods  which  had  been  found  in  process  of  manu- 
facture in  tenements  were  shown,  and  the  prices  paid  stated.  For 
a  dozen  lace  crocheted  ornaments  of  fine  quality  the  price  was 
60  cents,  and  a  dozen  was  all  that  the  worker  could  make  in  a 
day.  For  crocheting  an  edge,  fine  hand  work,  the  price  was 
2  cents  a  yard  for  one  row,  4  cents  for  a  double  row,  with  an 
output  of  three  to  five  yards  an  hour.  This  lace  was  given  out  by 
sub-contractors,  who  secured  it  from  manufacturers,  thus  saving 
the  manufacturer  the  trouble  of  dealing  with  the  individual 
workers.  A  pair  of  white  gloves,  finely  stitched  at  home  by  a 
worker  living  on  Macdougal  street,  was  exhibited.  These  gloves 
are  cut  in  the  factory  and  the  home  worker  stitches  all  the  seams, 
receiving  one  dollar  and  forty  cents  per  dozen  pairs.  The  woman 
is  an  expert  and  can  make  from  nine  to  twelve  pairs  a  day.  An 
imitation  pearl  necklace  was  shown ;  the  manufacturer  pays  the 
worker  60  cents  for  stringing  and  putting  the  catch  on  a  gross 
of  strings  (144).  For  a  kind  of  beading  used  as  an  ornament  the 
rate  was  2  cents  an  hour.  For  a  task  demanding  close  attention 
and  eye-strain, —  pulling  threads  of  men's  linen  handkerchiefs  to 
prepare  them  for  hemstitching, —  the  pay  was  3  cents  a  dozen,  and 
the  worker,  with  an  eleven-year  old  daughter  to  help  her,  could 
pull  the  threads  in  seven  dozen  handkerchiefs  a  day,  earning  56 


KEPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  Ill 

cents.  The  investigator  had  seen  the  book  in  which  their  weekly 
wages  were  recorded,  and  she  testified  that  $2.50  was  the  largest 
sum  she  made  in  a  week  and  that  the  usual  earnings  were  $1.30, 
$1.87,  or  $2.00. 

ECONOMIC  STATUS  OF  HOME  WORKERS'  FAMILIES 

"  Xone  was  found  living  alone  who  could  maintain  herself  by 
the  amount  she  earned  at  home  finishing,"*  is  the  statement  made 
in  the  Government  report  on  the  men's  ready-made  clothing  trade, 
and  it  is  not  surprising  to  learn,  therefore,  that  the  widow  with 
little  children  to  support  is  not  the  typical  home  worker.  In 
Xc\v  York  87.3  per  cent,  of  the  home  finishers  were  married 
women  living  with  their  husbands,  while  only  9.6  per  cent.,  47  of  a 
total  of  488,  were  widowed,  divorced,  separated,  or  deserted,  and 
3.1  per  cent,  unmarried  women. 

The  findings  of  our  investigators  agree  with  these  results.  Of 
306  families  of  home  workers,  the  father  was  living  and  at  home 
in  252  households,  while  in  only  37  was  the  mother  widowed 
or  deserted.  Twelve  of  the  home  workers  were  single  women, 
and  of  five  the  conjugal  condition  was  not  reported.  The  low 
earnings  or  unemployment  of  the  father,  or  in  some  cases  his 
laziness  or  greed  account  for  the  necessity  of  supplementary  in- 
come earned  by  the  work  of  the  mother  and  her  children. f 

Miss  Lillian  D.  Wald,  of  the  Nurses'  Settlement,  director  of 
the  work  of  85  nurses  who  visit  the  sick  in  their  homes  throughout 
Greater  Xew  York,  gave  the  following  testimony :  "  In  all  these 
cases  where  there  is  no  man  in  the  family,  or  the  man  is  sick  and 
unable  to  work,  the  family  even  with  the  children  working  is  not 
able  to  support  itself.  They  have  to  be  helped  by  charity  anyhow. 
It  is  only  a  question  of  degree  of  help." 

Few,  if  any,  households  are  dependent  solely,  or  even  chiefly, 
upon  home  work  for  support. 

SOLUTIONS  ADVOCATED 

Xone  of  the  witnesses  who  testified  before  the  Commission  be- 
lieved that  the  present  method  of  regulating  the  home-work  sys- 

*  2  H>id,  p.  228. 

fThe  great  majority  of  home  workers  are  Italians,  78  per  cent  in  the  families 
investigated  by  the  Commission's  agents,  and  98.2  per  cent  of  the  home  finishers 
Interviewed  by  Federal  investigators  of  the  clothing  trade.— Government  Report 
on  Condition  of  Woman  and  Child  Wage-earners  in  the  United  States,  Vol.  II, 
page  221. 


112  RKPOIIT  OF   COMMISSION. 

tem  was  adequate.     The  representative  opinions  appear  as  follows 
in  the  testimony : 

Manufacturer  of  crocheted  goods: 

"  My  idea  is  that  home  labor  should  be  permitted,  but 
should  be  regulated.  It  should  be  carefully  watched.  It 
should  be  put  under  the  factory  law.  And  children  under 
age  should  be  prohibited  from  working  as  in  factories.  That 
I  am  very  much  in  favor  of,  to  cut  out  the  very  young  chil- 
dren from  working.  That  is  shameful.  That  is  a  bad  thing. 
If  it  was  found  impossible  to  regulate  work  in  the  homes, 
it  would  be  hard  to  fully  prohibit  the  matter,  because  we 
have  to  compete  with  the  world.  Germany  and  France  and 
European  countries  are  doing  that  same  thing,  and  seem  to 
be  doing  it  with  advantage  to  the  consumers.  It  is  a  question 
in  my  mind  whether  it  would  be  advisable  to  shut  that  out 
altogether." 

Manufacturer  of  dolls  and  toys: 

"  If  it  is  done  right,  I  would  permit  people  who  live  in  a 
tenement  house  to  do  the  home  work.  *  *  *  I  mean, 
when  I  say  that  if  it  is  done  right,  the  places  where  the  work 
is  done  in  tenements,  should  be  inspected  as  is  a  factory.  I 
do  not  know  if  that  it  is  practicable.  If  it  was  not  practi- 
cable to  inspect  places  in  tenements  where  work  of  this  kind 
is  done  I  would  be  in  favor  of  abolishing  it  or  of  prohibit- 
ing it" 

Manufacturer  of  embroidery: 

"  I  think  it  would  be  very  nice  to  permit  the  work  in  the 
homes,  if  somebody  inspected  it  to  see  if  the  conditions  were 
good. 

"  Q.  Suppose  it  was  not  practicable, —  you  know  we  have 
got  to  take  this  thing  from  a  practical  standpoint.  Suppose  it 
was  not  practicable,  it  would  not  be  possible,  it  would  be  too 
big  a  thing,  to  inspect  every  place  in  which  work  was  done 
at  home,  as  they  inspect  your  factory,  would  you  be  in  favor 
then  of  abolishing  the  work  at  home  ?  A.  I  think  it  is  no 
good  for  the  factory,  no  good  for  the  people,  but  it  don't  mean 
very  much  for  me ;  just  about  the  same  thing.  If  I  have  a 
big  factory  I  could  have  plenty  of  room,  in  my  opinion,  I 
think  by  giving  out  the  home  work  sometimes  I  help  a  great 
deal  some  woman  in  my  line  of  business." 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  113 

Manufacturer  of  fancy  leather  goods: 

"  I  believe,  as  an  intelligent  manufacturer,  they  (the  home 
work  rooms)  ought  to  be  inspected  the  same  as  my  factory 
is.  I  think  that  home  work  should  be  done  under  certain 
restrictions.  I  think  it  would  work  a  hardship  with  a  great 
many  people  if  it  was  abolished  altogether.  I  dare  say  there 
are  a  great  many  articles  manufactured  at  home  that  should 
be  discontinued."  (Naming  foods  and  foodstuffs,  and  favor- 
ing absolute  prohibition  of  their  manufacture  in  tenements.) 

Manufacture  of  cigarettes: 

"  I  think  it  would  be  better  if  they  were  prohibited  from 
doing  it  in  their  homes.  I  would  be  in  favor  of  that." 

Manufacturer  of  cigarettes: 

"  Having  cigarette  papers  sent  home  to  be  made  by  Syrians 
in  their  homes  is  a  bad  feature.  It  should  be  prohibited ; 
there  is  no  question  about  that." 

Manufacturer  of  cigars  and  cigarettes: 

"  I  disapprove  of  home  work.  I  do  not  think  it  should 
be  done  at  home  at  all,  any  of  this  work.  I  think  it  would 
be  better  to  have  it  all  done  in  the  factory." 

Foreman  of  a  confectionery  company: 

"  I  do  not  know  what  I  would  do  for  the  cracking  of  nuts 
if  this  work  was  stopped  in  the  tenement  houses. 

"  Q.  Would  you  employ  people  to  come  to  your  factory  to 
do  it  ?  A.  That  is  what  we  are  trying  to  do  all  the  time." 

(No  more  definite  expression  of  opinion  could  be  secured 
from  him.) 

Dr.  Annie  8.  Daniels: 

"  I  approve  of  abolishing  home  work ;  all  kinds  of  home 
work.  I  have  approved  of  it  since  1888.  If  home  work 
was  prohibited  it  would  not  be  any  great  hardship  on  the 
women  and  children ;  I  am  sure  it  would  not  because  these 
women  are  strong,  able  and  capable  of  working  in  factories, 
and  their  children  would  be  taken  care  of  in  kindergartens, 
and  day  nurseries.  They  always  have  room  for  children 
whenever  they  ask  to  go  in.  And  the  women  would  work  in 
factories  and  get  better  pay.  I  am  pretty  sure  it  would 
result  in  making  the  husbands  work  in  some  cases." 
8 


114  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

Dr.  F.  Josephine  Baker: 

"In  my  opinion  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  regulate 
home  work  so  children  could  be  kept  from  working.  I  can't 
see  any  way  of  regulating  it.  .1  think  the  only  possible  way 
of  regulating  it  is  by  making  it  absolutely  illegal  for  any  one 
to  work  in  the  home.  Personally  I  would  advise  that. 

"  Q.  Do  you  think  that  there  is  any  hardship  in  the  pro- 
hibiting of  women  from  taking  home  work  ?  A.  There  again 
I  have  nothing  to  base  my  statement  upon  except  bare  sur- 
mise ;  but  we  in  the  Department  grant  about  40,000  employ- 
ment certificates  to  the  children  between  the  ages  of  fourteen 
and  sixteen  years  to  go  to  work  each  year.  Investigation  has 
shown  that  only  approximately  about  23  per  cent,  of  these 
children  go  to  work  because  there  is  any  need  of  their  money 
in  the  family.  The  remainder  go  because  they  are  tired  of 
school  or  because  their  families  want  them  to  leave  school, 
and  applying  such  a  ratio  to  home  work  in  general,  it  would 
seem  to  me  that  the  greater  good  would  be  served  by  abolish- 
ing it." 

Miss  Lillian  D.  Wald: 

"  I  would  like  to  contribute  a  bit  of  the  results  of  my 
observations.  When  I  first  went  downtown  I  found  that 
cloaks,  ladies'  cloaks,  were  frequently  made  in  the  tenement 
houses,  and  at  that  time  I  think  the  manufacturers  and  public 
sentiment  wholly  approved  of  it  because  it  was  considered 
essential.  I  remember  one  instance  where  the  cloak  that 
was  being  made  was  covering  a  child  who  was  sick  with 
scarlet  fever,  and  we  naturally  stopped  it  and  reported  the 
case  to  the  Board  of  Health,  and  in  this  instance  paid  the 
woman  the  amount  of  money  she  was  earning.  Now,  the 
ladies'  suit  and  cloak  industry  has  practically  been  taken  out 
of  the  tenement  houses,  and  I  do  not  believe  that  the  trade 
suffers.  The  volume  of  that  trade  in  the  City  is  enormous, 
and  nobody  suffers.  It  is  the  centre  of  that  trade  in  the 
whole  United  States.  If  my  figures  are  right,  the  output  is 
$250,000,000  a  year.  That  trade  has  been  taken  out  of  the 
tenement  houses  altogether,  and  nobody  has  suffered.  The 
wages  have  been  standardized.  It  is  practically  impossible  to 
standardize  a  wage  in  an  industry  that  is  carried  on  without 
supervision,  but  we  have  succeeded  in  doing  that,  in  taking 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  115 

the  work  out  of  the  tenement  houses.  And  that  was  prac- 
tically true  of  the  cigar  business,  too.  That  has  been 
practically  taken  out  of  the  tenements,  occasionally  you  will 
find  a  stripper.  That  has  not  hurt  the  people  working 

in  it " 

"  Q.  Are  you  in  favor  of  the  prohibition  of  this  work  in 
tenements  or  of  regulating  it  ?  A.  I  do  not  think  it  can  be 
regulated;  I  think  it  must  be  abolished.  I  do  not  see  how, 
without  an  enormously  expensive  set  of  investigators,  it 
would  be  possible  to  protect  the  children  from  excessive  hours 
of  work ;  standardize  the  wages,  supervise  the  sanitary  condi- 
tions under  which  the  manufacturing  is  done  —  I  am  afraid 
there  is  nothing  to  do  but  eliminate  it." 

Miss  Rose  Schneiderman,  of  the  Women's  Trade  Union  League,; 

"We  urge  the  prohibition  of  home  work.  *  *  *  If  we 
can  prohibit  home  work  entirely,  it  would  force  employers 
to  engage  the  amount  of  people  that  they  need  in  their  fac- 
tories and  not  avoid  the  responsibilities  of  having  employees 
and  all  that,  and  it  would  also  perhaps  give  the  employees  a 
chance  to  get  a  living  wage  for  the  work  that  they  do." 

Professor  Felix  Adler: 

"I  can  see  no  way,  I  must  admit,  of  devising  a  system 
of  inspection  which  will  really  control  the  sanitary  conditions 
and  labor  conditions  of  work  done  out  of  sight,  done  in  the 
homes  of  the  workers,  and  the  conclusion  would  seem  to  me 
that  we  must  move  forward  through  the  prohibition  of  tljis 
kind  of  work  altogether." 

Miss  Pauline  Goldmarlc: 

"  I  don't  suppose  there  is  any  way  of  regulating  or  super- 
vising homework  or  keeping  the  children  out  of  it  except 
getting  it  out  of  the  homes  by  prohibiting  it  altogether.  I 
do  not  see  why  any  set  of  manufacturers  should  have  the 
advantage  of  such  savings  on  rent  and  on  wages  and  then  put 
the  State  to  such  great  expense  to  regulate  and  inspect  10,000 
homes.  Also,  we  might  add,  to  maintain  these  people  when 
they  break  down.  Naturally  if  the  workers  are  not  making 
a  living  wage  somebody  has  got  to  pay  the  difference  sooner 
or  later." 


116  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

Miss  Mary  F.  Maguire,  principal  of  Public  School  Xo.  3 : 
"  I  feel  that  the  homework  ought  to  be  stamped  out." 
Mr.  Marcus  M.  Marks: 

"I  am  in  favor  of  a  much  more  careful  supervision  of 
work  going  on  in  homes  than  at  present  exists  *  *  *  I  think 
it  would  be  a  crime  to  do  what  has  been  suggested  —  to  elim- 
inate the  right  to  work  in  the  home." 

Mr.  James  R.  Kaiser,  manufacturer  of  neckwear: 

"  If  a  law  were  enacted  prohibiting  instead  of  regulating 
homework,  without  regard  to  the  age  of  the  worker,  it  would 
disastrously  affect  two  classes  of  employees  who  figure  very 
largely  in  our  industry  and  many  others.  First,  the  mar- 
ried women  who  have  children  to  take  care  of,  and  who  have 
to  prepare  the  meals  of  their  husbands.  It  is  difficult,  if 
not  impossible  for  those  people  to  come  to  our  factory  or  to 
the  other  factories,  and  it  simply  deprives  them  of  their 
living.  The  other  class  is  much  more  numerous,  it  repre- 
sents workers  who  by  reason  of  their  limited  incomes  have 
to  live  at  a  distant  point,  Hoboken  and  other  places  at  a 
distance,  and  they  would  lose  at  least  two  hours  in  transit, 
plus  their  car  fare." 

Miss  Maud  E.  Miner: 

"If  it  is  simply  a  question  of  giving  liberty  —  individual 
liberty  —  to  the  homes,  to  the  family,  to  the  children,  which 
is  urged  as  a  reason  for  not  taking  this  sweatshop  work  away 
from  the  homes,  we  cannot  but  believe  that  it  is  absolute 
slavery  we  are  permitting  instead  of  any  kind  of  liberty.  I 
would  favor  the  absolute,  immediate  prohibition  of  all  of  it ; 
there  is  nothing  that  can  be  done  by  inspection  really  to  bet- 
ter the  conditions." 

RECOMMENDATION  s 

Manufacturing  in  tenements  under  the  conditions  disclosed,  is 
accompanied  by  certain  grave  evils.  It  is  frequently  carried  on 
in  unclean  and  unsanitary  surroundings  and  in  homes  where  there 
are  infectious  and  contagious  diseases ;  it  enlists  the  services  of 
little  children  both  during  and  after  schools  hours ;  it  nullifies  the 
requirements  of  compulsory  education  because  children  who 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  117 

should  be  at  school,  work  undetected  at  home ;  it  permits  the  eva- 
sion of  the  child  labor  law  because,  although  no  child  under  16 
may  work  in  any  factory  after  5  p.  M.,  the  manufacturer,  by  send- 
ing his  goods  to  the  home,  may  have  young  children  of  any  age 
legally  do  his  work  there  for  any  number  of  hours. 

Furthermore,  the  fifty-four  hour  law  is  frustrated  because 
women  who  have  worked  in  the  factory  nine  or  ten  hours  take 
work  home  to  do  at  night. 

The  wages  paid  to  home-workers  are  low  in  comparison  with 
those  received  by  factory  workers.  The  system  of  giving  work 
from  the  factory  to  contractors  who  in  turn  distribute  it  among 
homeworkers  has  produced  a  "  sweating  system  "  that  deprives 
the  homeworkers  of  fair  compensation. 

The  ramifications  of  home  work  are  extensive,  particularly  in 
cities  of  the  first  class.  Some  of  the  most  important  industries 
resort  to  it  extensively.  There  are,  undoubtedly,  thousands  of 
families  who  rely  upon  work  at  home  to  a  certain  degree,  but 
those  households  are  few  and  rare  for  whom  it  is  the  sole  or  even 
chief  source  of  income. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  immediate  legislation  is  needed  to 
remedy  the  evils  inevitably  accompanying  this  work.  Every 
manufacturer  using  home-work  who  appeared  before  us  conceded 
that  some  change  is  desirable.  But  concerning  the  specific  nature 
of  these  changes  there  have  been  divergent  opinions. 

On  the  one  hand  it  has  been  urged  that  all  manufacturing  in 
tenement  houses  of  goods  for  the  open  market  be  prohibited ;  that 
a  manufacturer  should  no  longer  be  permitted  to  make  a  tene- 
ment home  a  branch  of  his  factory  and  in  this  way  evade  all  the 
responsibility  and  expense  of  compliance  with  the  requirements 
of  the  labor  law.  It  has  been  argued  that  it  is  impossible  to 
supervise  and  regulate  homework  sufficiently  to  correct  its  dan- 
gerous features,  and  that  no  system  of  inspection  to  which  the 
state  would  be  justified  in  resorting  would  effectually  prevent 
manufacturing  in  homes  which  are  unclean  or  in  which  there  is 
disease. 

Again  it  has  been  argued  that  since  homework  now  affords 
employment  to  thousands  who  are  more  or  less  dependent  upon 
it  for  support,  the  prohibition  of  manufacturing  in  tenements 


118  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

would  injure  many  industries  and  deprive  thousands  of  home- 
workers  of  a  livelihood.  It  has  been  maintained  also  that  home- 
work can  be  so  regulated  that  work  may  not  be  done  in  unsanitary 
and  unhealthful  surroundings,  or  with  the  assistance  of  young 
children;  that  no  adequate  attempt  has  been  made  in  this  state 
to  regulate  homework  and  that  until  such  an  attempt  has  been 
made  and  has  resulted  in  failure  it  is  unfair  and  unjust  to  say 
that  any  regulation  would  be  futile. 

We  have  given  careful  consideration  to  these  divergent  views. 
We  realize  the  manufacturing  in  tenement  houses  is  a  serious 
evil,  that  it  is,  in  fact,  a  blot  on  our  industrial  system.  It  is  to 
be  condemned  because  it  is  injurious  to  the  health  of  the  women 
and  children  directly  engaged  in  this  work  and  because  it  un- 
justifiably invades  their  homes.  Moreover,  the  health  of  the 
public  using  such  products  is  endangered.  From  an  economic 
point  of  view  its  continuance  is  unjustified;  it  undermines  the 
wage  scale  of  the  factory  workers;  it  is  wasteful  both  of  human 
labor  and  of  material.  Public  welfare  would  be  promoted  by  its 
eradication.  In  the  long  run  the  home-worker  would  gain  pre- 
cisely as  the  men  working  in  the  coal  mines  of  Pennsylvania  were 
benefited  when  their  young  children  were  prevented  from  work- 
ing and  thus  from  competing  with  their  parents. 

The  Commission  did  not  feel  justified,  however,  in  recom- 
mending that  the  whole  system  be  rooted  out  at  once.  It  is  deeply 
entrenched  in  our  industrial  life  and  to  overturn  existing  con- 
ditions too  suddenly  would,  perhaps,  cripple  certain  industries 
and  would  work  great  hardship  to  thousands  of  workers  engaged 
in  them.  It  is  true  that  for  more  than  twenty  years  there  has 
been  a  statute  regulating  homework,  but  it  is  also  true  that  no 
serious  effort  has  been  made  to  enforce  this  law  in  the  spirit  in 
which  the  legislature  undoubtedly  intended  it  to  be  carried  out. 
The  inadequate  resources  of  the  Depatment  of  Labor  account  in 
large  measure  for  this  failure.  Licenses  have  been  issued  as  a 
matter  of  form  and  prosecutions  for  violations  of  the  law  have 
rarely  been  instituted.  Licenses,  moreover,  have  not  been  re- 
voked for  unsanitary  condition  of  premises  as  often  as  circum- 
stances demanded. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  119 

The  present  law  is  in  many  respects  entirely  inadequate.  It 
covers  only  tenement  houses  in  which  the  41  articles  specified 
in  the  law  are  manufactured  and  leaves  the  manufacture  in  tene- 
ment homes  of  all  other  articles,  without  supervision  of  any  kind. 

Our  recommendations  are  therefore  embraced  under  the  fol- 
lowing heads : 

1.  Entire  prohibition  of  the  employment  of  children  under 
14  years  of  age  in  tenement  house  work; 

2.  Immediate  prohibition  of  work  in  tenement  houses  on  all 
articles  likely  to  become  contaminated  and  therefore  injurious  to 
public  health;  or  on  articles  by  which  it  is  clear  that  disease 
may  be  communicated; 

3.  Extension  of  the  present  law  to  cover  manufacturing  in 
any  tenement  house  of  all  articles  and  the  strengthening  of  the 
administrative  features  of  the  law; 

4.  Adequate  number  of  inspectors  to  enforce  the  law; 

5.  Further  investigation  and  study  by  the  Industrial  Board. 

PROHIBITION  OP  THE  EMPLOYMENT  OF  CHILDREN 

All  witnesses  appearing  before  the  Commission,  including 
manufacturers  who  send  work  to  homes,  have  recognized  the 
necessity  of  stopping  immediately  the  employment  of  very  young 
children  in  this  work.  We  therefore  recommend  an  amendment 
to  the  labor  law  prohibiting  the  employment  in  tenement  houses 
of  a  child  under  fourteen  in  any  work  for  a  factory  and  that 

"work  shall  be  deemed  to  be  done  for  a  factory,  whenever4 
it  is  done  at  any  place,  upon  the  work  of  a  factory  or  upon 
any  of  the  materials  entering  into  the  product  of  the  factory, 
whether  under  contract  or  arrangement  with  any  person  in 
charge  of  or  connected  with  such  factory,  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, through  the  instrumentality  of  one  or  more  contractors 
or  third  persons." 

The  employment  of  a  child  in  violation  of  this  provision  should 
be  sufficient  cause  for  revoking  the  license  of  the  entire  tenement 
in  which  the  child  lives.  This  sweeping  prohibition  of  the  work 
of  young  children  will  eliminate  one  of  the  most  objectionable 
features  of  homework  and  one  that  the  public  especially 
condemns. 


120  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

PROHIBITION    OF   MANUFACTURE   OF   FOOD   PRODUCTS    AND   IN- 
FANTS' WEAR 

We  recommend  the  immediate  prohibition  of  the  manufacture 
in  tenement  houses  of  food  products,  dolls,  and  dolls'  clothes  and 
of  infants'  and  children's  wearing  apparel.  The  investigations  we 
conducted  show  that  such  restriction  is  plainly  called  for  in  the 
interests  of  public  health.  The  classification  is  reasonable  and 
one  that  may,  under  the  decisions,  properly  be  made  by  the  legis- 
lature. Food  products  are  much  more  liable  to  contamination 
than  any  others  and  their  preparation  under  entirely  sanitary 
and  hygienic  conditions  is  a  matter  absolutely  necessary  to  the 
public  health.  Infants  and  children  are  more  susceptible  than 
adults  to  couh-gions  diseases  and  it  is  intoJerable  that  the  manu- 
facture of  garments  and  other  articles  to  be  worn  by  them,  or 
which  they  play  with,  should  be  permitted  under  circumstances 
that  may  tend  to  spread  disease.  The  many  reports  of  work 
done  in  homes  in  which  there  were  cases  of  scarlet  fever,  diph- 
theria, and  measles  prove  that  this  danger  to  children  is  a  serious 
one. 

We  therefore  recommend  the  following  amendment  to  the 
labor  law: 

No  article  of  food,  no  dolls  or  dolls'  clothing  and  no  article 
of  children's  or  infants'  wearing  apparel  shall  be  manufac- 
tured, altered,  repaired  or  finished  in  whole  or  in  part,  by 
any  person  for  a  factory,  either  directly  or  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  one  or  more  contractors  or  other  third  persons 
in  a  tenement  house,  in  any  portion  of  an  aparbment  any 
part  of  which  is  used  for  living  purposes. 

We  are  convinced  that  this  measure  is  a  valid  exercise  of  the 
police  power  and  that  its  constitutionality  is  not  open  to  doubt. 
The  Jacobs  case  (98  N.  Y.,  p.  98)  is  not  contrary  authority. 
It  held  unconstitutional  an  act  which  forbade  the  manufacture 
of  tobacco  products  in  tenement  houses  in  cities  having  a  popu- 
lation of  over  500,000.  This  decision  was  based  upon  the 
ground  that  the  act  was  not  a  health  measure  and  not  passed  in 
the  interests  of  the  public  health.  The  court  relied  upon  evi- 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  121 

dence  which  they  claimed  justified  this  finding.  The  Board  of 
Health  of  the  City  of  Xew  York  had  officially  declared,  after 
careful  investigation  "  that  the  health  of  the  tenement  population 
is  not  jeopardized  by  the  manufacture  of  cigars  in  those  houses ; 
that  this  bill  is  not  a  sanitary  measure,  and  that  it  has  not  been 
approved  by  this  board." 

Presiding  Justice  Davis  said: 

"  If  the  Act  were  general  and  aimed  at  all  tenement  houses 
and  prohibited  for  sanitary  reasons  the  manufacture  of  cigars 
and  tobacco  in  all  such  buildings,  or  if  it  prohibited  such 
manufacture  in  the  living  rooms  df  all  tenants  another  case 
would  be  presented."  (In  re  Jacobs,  33  Hun,  374,  382.) 

The  measure  we  recommend  differs  from  the  act  as  construed 
by  the  court  in  the  Jacobs  case  in  the  following  important  par- 
ticulars : 

1st.     It  is  to  apply  to  all  tenement  houses  throughout  the  state. 

2nd.  It  is  limited  in  its  application  to  apartments  used  for 
living  purposes. 

3rd.  It  is  essentially  a  health  measure  necessary  for  sanitary 
reasons  and  in  the  interests  of  the  public  health;  that  fact  is 
proved  convincingly  by  the  testimony  heard  by  the  Commission 
and  by  the  results  of  our  own  investigations. 

4th.  It  is  limited  to  work  done  for  a  factory;  that  is,  it  pro- 
hibits the  use  of  a  living  room  in  a  tenement  house  as  a  branch 
of  a  factory  in  the  preparation  and  manufacture  of  products  hav- 
ing an  intimate  relation  to  the  public  health. 

Thus  the  measure  we  recommend  meets  all  of  the  objections 
that  the  court  raised  in  the  Jacobs'  case. 

AMENDMENTS  TO  PRESENT  LAW  REGULATING  TENEMENT  HOUSE 

MANUFACTURE 

There  is  no  logical  reason  for  limiting  the  application  of  the 
licensing  law  to  certain  specified  articles  (41)->  and  we  therefore 
recommend  that  its  scope  be  extended  to  cover  the  manufacturing 
of  any  article  in  a  tenement  house. 


122  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

To  aid  in  the  enforcement  of  the  law  we  recommend  the 
following : 

1.  Every  employer  in  any  factory  sending  goods  to  a  tenement 
house  to  be  manufactured  shall  issue  with  all  such  goods  a  label 
bearing  the  name  and  address  of  his  factory.     At  present  the  in- 
spectors complain  that  they  are  generally  unable  to  ascertain  from 
the  home-workers,  the  names  of  the  factory  owner  for  whom  the 
work  is  done. 

2.  The  owner  of  every  factory  for  which  articles  are  manu- 
factured in  any  tenement  house  shall  secure  a  permit  for  that 
purpose  from  the  Commissioner  of  Labor.     This  permit  may  be 
revoked  or  suspended  by  the  commissioner  whenever  any  pro- 
vision of  the  law  relating  to  the  sanitary  condition  of  tenement 
houses  or  their  freedom  from  contagious  diseases  or  the  employ- 
ment of  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age  is  violated  in  con- 
nection with  any  work  for  the  factory.     ISTo  factory  shall  send 
goods  to  be  manufactured  in  a  tenement  home  unless  this  permit 
has  been  issued. 

We  also  recommend  that  there  be  published  by  the  Department 
of  Labor  a  complete  list  of  all  factories  holding  such  permits, 
together  with  the  names  and  business  addresses  of  the  owners  of 
all  such  factories,  and  that  there  be  also  published,  from  time 
to  time,  a  list  of  tenement  houses  licensed  in  accordance  with  the 
law. 

DIVISION  OF  HOMEWORK  INSPECTION 

We  have  heretofore  recommended  the  creation  of  a  division 
of  homework  inspection  in  the  Bureau  of  Inspection  to  be  in 
charge  of  tenement  homes  in  which  manufacturing  is  carried  on. 
Xot  less  than  fifteen  inspectors  should  be  assigned  to  this  division 
and  the  number  should  be  increased  from  time  to  time  as  cir- 
cumstances demand.  We  believe  that  at  least  one-third  of  these 
inspectors  should  be  women.  The  inspections  should  not  be 
limited  to  the  period  between  9  A.  M.  and  3  P.  M.  as  is  the  practice 
at  present.  It  is  highly  important  that  inspections  should  also 
be  in  the  late  afternoon  and  at  night. 


EEPOET  OF  COMMISSION.  123 

CONCLUSION 

We  believe  that  the  prohibition  of  the  employment  of  young 
children  in  tenement  house  work,  the  prohibition  of  the  manu- 
facture of  food  products,  dolls'  dresses,  and  clothing  and  the 
wearing  apparel  of  infants  and  children,  together  with  the  recom- 
mendations we  have  made  for  an  improvement  in  the  adminis- 
trative features  of  the  present  law  and  the  creation  of  a  division 
in  the  department  for  its  adequate  enforcement  will  protect  the 
public  more  effectively.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  in  the  future 
more  radical  action  will  be  necessary. 

We  recommend,  for  the  present  that  this  entire  subject  receive 
the  careful  consideration  of  the  Industrial  Board,  which  should 
make  investigations  from  time  to  time  to  ascertain  the  con- 
ditions under  which  manufacturing  in  tenement  houses,  is  carried 
on.  If,  after  two  or  three  years,  it  is  found  that  attempted  regu- 
lation is  unsuccessful  and  that  the  necessary  control  over  un- 
sanitary and  unhealthy  conditions  of  work  in  tenement  houses 
cannot  be  secured  by  inspection  and  supervision,  then  all  manu- 
facturing in  tenement  houses  should  be  prohibited  in  the  interests 
of  the  home-workers,  of  the  dwellers  in  tenement  houses  and  of 
the  public  at  large. 

*  Bills  8   and  9,  Appendix  I. 


124  REPOET  OF  COMMISSION. 


IV. 

THE  CANNERIES 

The  fruit  and  vegetable  canning  industry  differs  from  all  other 
manufacturing  industries  in  New  York  State  in  the  important 
respect  that  the  canneries  are  geographically  isolated.  They  are 
scattered  over  eighteen  counties  largely  rural,  in  hamlets,  villages, 
and  little  cities,  and  are  usually  situated  in  the  farming  region 
even  when  there  are  other  industries  in  the  same  county. 

Through  their  situation  the  canners  are  thus  removed  from  the 
regular  field  of  work  of  the  state  factory  inspectors  who  must 
make  special  tours,  expensive  in  time  and  money,  to  inspect  them. 
They  are  also  removed  from  the  daily  observation  of  the  con- 
suming public  and  of  the  workers  in  other  industries. 

The  employees  are  either  the  native  American  neighbors  of  the 
canneries  or  foreigners  imported  from  cities  in  family  groups  of 
men,  women  and  children.  These  diverse  elements  separated 
by  race,  language,  and  religion  have  little  in  common  with  one 
another  and  form  no  organizations  of  any  kind.  They  have,  more- 
over, little  communication  with  the  outside  public.  Being  scat- 
tered units  they  have  no  effective  means  of  making  public  their 
opinions  and  wishes. 

For  these  reasons  little  is  known  about  the  canning  industry. 
It  has  therefore  been  difficult  for  legislators  to  weigh  intelligently 
the  claims  made  by  canners  for  exemption  from  the  provisions  of 
the  labor  law  relating  to  the  employment  of  women  and  children. 

With  regard  to  these  provisions  the  fruit  and  vegetable  can- 
ning industry  has  always  occupied  a  unique  position.  The  in- 
dustry has,  as  a  whole,  never  obeyed  them  for  it  has  never  been 
compelled  to  do  so.  Officials  who  should  properly  assist  in  enforc- 
ing the  law  no  less  directly  than  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  seem 
to  have  contributed  actually  to  its  relaxation.  This  fact  applies 
not  only  to  local  magistrates  and  juries  but  also  to  local  school 
authorities  and  to  state  officials. 

Ever  since  1903,  the  canners  have  unweariedly  sought  for  their 
industry  both  complete  exemption  through  amendment  of  the 
statute  relating  to  factories,  and  partial  exemption,  through 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  125 

interpretation  of  its  provisions  by  the  Attorney-General.  The 
eamiers  have  achieved  both  these  ends.  The  opinion  rendered  by 
a  former  Attorney-General  which  will  be  referred  to  more  fully 
hereafter,  declared  that  the  factory  law  did  not  apply  to  cannery 
sheds.  This  opinion  removed  an  ever  increasing  body  of  women 
and  children  from  the  protection  of  the  factory  law  and  has 
resulted  in  the  enployment  of  children  of  a  very  tender  age  in 
the  sheds. 

In  1912  the  legislature  exempted  the  canning  industry  from 
the  operation  of  the  provisions  of  the  factory  law  regulating  the 
hours  of  labor  for  women.  Subdivision  two  of  section  seventy- 
eight  of  the  labor  law  as  amended  in  1912  provides  that  the  pro- 
visions relating  to  the  hours  of  labor  of  women  in  factories, 

"shall  not  apply  to  the  employment  of  women  and  of 
minors  sixteen  years  of  age  and  upwards  in  canning  and  pre- 
serving perishable  products  in  fruit  and  canning  establish- 
ments between  the  fifteenth  day  of  June  and  the  fifteenth 
day  of  October  each  year." 

This  wide  open  exemption  permits  the  employment  of  minors 
over  16  years  of  age  and  of  women,  for  any  number  of  hours 
during  the  canning  season. 

EXTENT  OF  THE  INDUSTRY 

The  industry  thus  exempted  from  this  very  important  pro- 
vision of  the  labor  law  is  growing  in  extent.  There  were,  dur- 
ing the  summer  of  1912,  128  canneries  engaged  primarily  in 
canning  fruits  and  vegetables. 

According  to  the  United  States  Census  of  1910,  the  canned 
goods  packed  in  the  state  of  New  York  in  1909  amounted  to 
4,356,861  cases  of  all  products  packed,  valued  at  $8,454,359. 

In  its  output  of  canned  peas  New  York  ranks  second  among 
the  states  of  the  Union;  in  its  output  of  canned  beans,  third; 
and  in  its  output  of  canned  corn,  sixth. 

Our  investigators  report  that  there  are  employed  in  the  can- 
ning factories,  off  and  on.  throughout  the  season  approximately 
14,000  men,  women  and  children.*  Of  the  children  our  investi- 

*  A  memorandum  submitted  by  the  Canners'  Association  of  New  York 
places  the  number  as  high  as  40,000.  The  Census  Report  for  1910  fixes  it  at  8,818. 


126  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

gators  found  1,355  under  the  age  of  sixteen,  at  work,  but  are  of 
the  opinion  that  the  number  actually  employed  was  approximately 
1,700. 

The  crops  with  which  the  canneries  deal  include  peas,  beans, 
corn,  succotash,  tomatoes,  pumpkins,  and  other  vegetables ;  apples, 
berries,  cherries,  peaches,  pears,  plums,  and  other  fruits. 

CLAIM  OF  THE  CANNERIES  TO  EXEMPTION  FROM  THE  FACTORY 

LAW 

The  canners  rest  their  plea  for  exemption  from  the  factory 
law  upon  the  perishable  nature  of  their  material,  the  shortness 
and  variability  of  their  season,  and  the  alleged  healthfulness  of 
the  surroundings  amid  which  women  and  children  work.  The 
nature  of  the  material  and  the  variability  of  the  season  are, 
they  assert,  conditions  beyond  their  control.  But  these  two  pecu- 
liarities of  the  industry  involve  in  themselves,  according  to  the 
canners,  certain  mitigations  for  the  workers;  for,  between  the 
periods  of  maturity  of  the  various  crops,  rest  from  employment 
usually  follows  a  rush  period.  They  further  declare  that  since 
their  factories  are  among  the  fields,  work  in  them  is  more  akin 
to  agricultural  than  to  factory  labor.  They  point  to  the  fact 
that  "  the  Lord  ripens  the  crops,"  and  place  upon  Him  all  re- 
sponsibility for  the  irregularities  of  their  industry. 

THE  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE  COMMISSION 

The  fact  that  most  of  the  employees  in  the  canneries  are  women 
and  children  made  it  very  important  for  the  Commission  to 
devote  a  portion  of  its  time  to  a  careful  study  of  conditions  in 
this  unregulated  industry.  Accordingly  the  Commission  both 
through  personal  visits  of  its  own  members  and  through  the 
assistance  of  investigators,  made  a  thorough  inspection  of  con- 
ditions in  this  industry  during  the  canning  season  of  1912.  The 
investigation  covered  the  employment  of  women  and  children  and 
their  hours  of  labor,  and  general  sanitary  conditions  both  in  the 
canneries  themselves  and  also  in  the  living  quarters  of  the  for- 
eigners employed  in  the  canneries. 

The  investigation  was  conducted  by  Mr.  Zenas  L.  Potter, 
assisted  by  nine  field  inspectors.  It  was  unusually  thorough. 


REPOKT  OF  COMMISSION.  127 

One  hundred  and  twenty-one  out  of  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  canning  factories  of  the  state  were  inspected.  The  method 
generally  employed  was  that  of  a  regular  official  inspection  by 
the  Commission's  investigators.  Where,  however,  special  infor- 
mation in  regard  to  working  conditions  was  needed  several  of 
these  investigators  would  secure  employment  as  workers  in  the 
canneries  and  in  this  way  be  able  to  describe  in  detail  the  work- 
ing conditions  of  the  women  and  children.  Much  information 
was  also  obtained  from  the  official  records  and  time  books  of 
the  canners.  Furthermore,  the  members  of  the  Commission  per- 
sonally inspected  a  number  of  canneries  and  examined  under 
oath  the  canners,  their  superintendents,  and  the  women  and  chil- 
dren who  were  found  there  actually  at  work. 

A  public  hearing  to  consider  proposed  legislation  for  the  can- 
neries was  held  by  the  Commission  in  Albany  on  November  26th, 
1912,  to  which  all  of  the  canners  of  the  state  were  invited. 
Twenty  of  the  canners  were  present  in  person  and  the  entire 
canning  industry  of  the  state  was  represented  by  counsel.  Every 
opportunity  was  given  to  the  representatives  of  the  industry  to 
present  their  side  of  the  case.  The  Commission  permitted  coun- 
sel for  the  canners  to  cross-examine  the  investigators  and  inspec- 
tors called  by  the  Commission.  It  also  permitted  the  canners 
to  call  witnesses  and  to  have  their  own  counsel  examine  them. 
Many  of  the  canners  themselves  testified  to  working  conditions. 
At  a  later  public  hearing  at  Rochester,  the  Commission  again 
allowed  the  counsel  for  the  canners  to  call  and  examine  several 
witnesses.  The  counsel  for  the  canners  regarded  the  proceedings 
and  investigations  of  the  Commission  as  most  fair  to  all  con- 
cerned. A  memorandum  submitted  on  behalf  of  the  Canners' 
Association  is  set  forth  in  Appendix  X. 

CHILD  LABOR  IN  THE  CANNERIES 

Our  investigators  during  the  canning  season  of  1912  found 
1,355  children  under  sixteen  years  of  age  at  work  in  the  canning 
factories  proper  and  in  the  sheds  of  these  factories.  Of  these, 
96  were  employed  in  the  factories  proper  and  1,259  in  the  cannery 
sheds.  Of  the  shed-workers  942  were  under  fourteen  years  of  age ; 
141  under  10  years  of  age,  of  whom  30  were  six  years  old  or  under. 


128  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

Only  12  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age  were  employed  in 
the  factory  proper.  The  Commission  itself  in  the  tour  of  inspec- 
tion of  the  canneries  made  in  August,  1912,  found  a  number  of 
children  under  ten  years  of  age  at  work  in  the  sheds. 

A  canning  factory  is  made  up  generally  of  a  group  of  at  least 
three  buildings :  a  process  building  where  the  vegetables  are  sealed 
and  cooked,  a  store  house,  and  a  shed  where  the  vegetables  and 
fruits  are  prepared,  as  for  example,  beans  are  snipped  and  corn 
is  husked.  It  is  in  these  sheds  that  nearly  all  of  the  children  are 
employed. 

ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S   OPINION — CANNERY  SHED  NOT  A 

FACTORY 

For  a  clear  understanding  of  the  child  labor  situation  in  the 
canneries  it  is  necessary  to  refer  briefly  to  the  laws  of  the  state 
relating  to  the  employment  of  children,  to  the  interpretation 
placed  upon  those  laws,  by  state  officials,  and  to  the  present  status 
of  such  laws  so  far  as  their  practical  operation  and  enforcement 
are  concerned. 

The  child  labor  law  enacted  in  1886  prohibited  the  employ- 
ment in  a  factory  of  any  child  under  fourteen  years  of  age  and 
prohibited  the  employment  of  children  between  fourteen  and  six- 
teen years  unless  an  employment  certificate  was  obtained.  In 
1903  this  statute  was  amended  by  including  in  this  prohibition 
the  work  of  such  children  "  in  connection  with  any  factory." 

There  is  but  little  doubt  that  up  to  this  time  everyone  concerned 
in  the  enforcement  of  the  child  labor  law  believed  that  it  applied 
to  the  sheds  maintained  in  connection  with  a  canning  factory.  In 
1905  a  number  of  canners  requested  the  Commissioner  of  Labor 
then  holding  office,  to  investigate  conditions  and  to  determine 
whether  the  factory  law  applied  to  the  sheds.  The  Commissioner 
of  Labor  applied  in  turn  to  the  Attorney-General  for  a  ruling  on 
the  question.  The  latter  delivered  an  opinion  in  which  he  held 
that  under  certain  conditions  work  in  the  cannery  sheds  was  agri- 
cultural in  character  and  that  the  factory  law  did  not  apply  to  it ; 
that  is,  that  the  child  labor  law  relating  to  factories  did  not  apply 
to  children  at  work  in  the  sheds. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  129 

In  the  concluding  portion  of  his  opinion  the  Attorney-General 
said: 

"  If  the  employment  is  in  sheds  devoid  of  machinery,  in 
the  open  air,  unconnected  with  a  factory,  and  not  subject  to 
the  discipline  and  hours  governing  factory  employment,  I 
am  of  the  opinion  that  such  employment  of  children  under 
fourteen  is  legal,  providing  it  does  not  conflict  with  the  pro- 
visions of  the  compulsory  education  law." 

The  correspondence  between  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  and 
the  Attorney-General  together  with  the  latter's  opinion  are  set 
forth  in  full  in  Appendix  V.,  Report  on  Industrial  Conditions  in 
the  Canneries. 

Views  differ  as  to  the  correctness  of  the  opinion  of  the  Attor- 
ney-General, as  a  legal  document.  In  any  event  the  opinion  did 
not  warrant  the  employment  of  children  in  the  cannery  sheds  at 
any  age,  for  any  number  of  hours,  and  under  any  conditions  as 
is  the  practice  to-day.  As  a  practical  matter,  however,  the 
opinion  was  interpreted  to  mean  that  the  factory  law,  irrespective 
of  the  conditions  upon  which  the  opinion  was  based,  did  not  apply 
to  work  in  cannery  sheds.  At  any  rate  nothing  was  done  by  the 
Commissioner  of  Labor  who  asked  for  the  opinion,  to  enforce  the 
child  labor  law  even  as  to  work  in  such  sheds  as  could  not  possibly 
come  within  the  Attorney-General's  classification  as  agricultural. 

In  the  actual  practice  of  enforcement  it  would  as  a  matter  of 
fact  be  virtually  impossible  to  make  the  distinctions  that  the 
Attorney-General  pointed  out  in  his  opinion.  The  result  was  that 
for  several  years  after  the  opinion  was  rendered  nothing  at  all 
was  done  to  check  the  employment  of  young  children  in  cannery 
sheds. 

In  1907  when  a  later  Commissioner  of  Labor,  in  response  to 
popular  demand,  instituted  proceedings  for  violation  of  the  child 
labor  law  in  the  employment  of  children  under  fourteen  in  the 
sheds  his  efforts  were  successfully  opposed  in  every  case  brought 
to  trial,  by  the  reliance  of  the  defense  solely  on  the  opinion  of  the 
Attorney-General  previously  quoted.  In  practically  every  one  of 
these  cases  the  conditions  were  different  from  those  assumed  by 
the  Attorney-General  as  the  basis  of  his  opinion.  The  verdicts 
in  these  cases  showed,  however,  that  not  only  the  canners  but  the 
9 


130  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

local  courts,  instead  of  construing  the  opinion  strictly,  stretched 
it  to  the  utmost,  without  regard  to  the  conditions  mentioned 
therein,  namely,  that  the  sheds  in  which  the  children  were  em- 
ployed should  contain  no  machinery  and  should  be  structurally 
unconnected  with  a  factory.  The  people,  of  course,  cannot  appeal 
from  verdicts  rendered  for  defendants  in  criminal  cases  so  that 
there  has  been  no  ruling  on  the  subject  by  any  superior  court. 

THE  SHEDS 

Whether  or  not  the  Attorney-General's  opinion  is  sound  law  and 
whether  or  not  the  interpretation  placed  upon  that  opinion  by 
local  courts  is  correct,  is  relatively  unimportant  at  this  time.  We 
are  no  longer  deeply  concerned  with  what  the  law  in  the  past  has 
been  theoretically  or  in  practice,  but  we  do  deem  it  to  be  of  vital 
importance  that  in  the  future  it  should  be  expressed  so  clearly  and 
•unequivocally  as  to  leave  no  room  for  any  doubt  or  speculation 
concerning  its  scope  or  applicability. 

Anyone  unacquainted  with  the  arrangement  of  cannery  build- 
ings might  assume  that  the  shed  is  always  out  in  the  open  fields 
away  from  the  factory  proper  and  unconnected  with  it  in  any 
way.  That  assumption,  however,  would  be  frequently  an  error. 
Of  the  33  sheds  that  were  inspected  in  which  children  were  em- 
ployed, 11  were  contiguous  with  the  factory  proper,  2  were  within 
one  foot  or  less,  9  were  within  from  nineteen  to  twenty-five  feet, 
2  were  within  from  twenty-five  to  fifty  feet.  In  twenty  factories 
visited  the  passage  between  the  shed  and  the  factory  was 
unobstructed. 

The  following  facts  show  the  character  of  the  sheds  where  chil- 
dren worked : 

Floors 

Floored 24 

Unfloored  .  9 


Walls 

Entirely  enclosed   6 

One  side  open 2 

Two  sides  open 3 

Three  sides  open 9 

All  sides  open 13 


REPOKT  OF  COMMISSION.  131 

Distance  from  Process  Building 

Contiguous  with  it 11 

10  feet  or  less  from  it 2 

11  to  25  feet 9 

26  to  50  feet 2 

125  to  300  feet 4 

1/2  mile  4 

2  miles    .  1 


Connection  with  Process  Building 

No   connection 15 

Structural  and  power  connection 5 

Power  and  conveyor 7 

Structural  and  by  power  and  conveyor 6 


Barrier  to  Free  Passage  of  Workers  Between  Shed  and 

Factory 

Actual  barrier    8 

No  barrier    20 

Distance  barrier  .  5 


Artificial  Light 

Contain  artificial  light 24 

No  artificial  light 9 

Machinery 

Sheds  containing  machinery 14 

(Operated  when  children  work 8) 

(Sheds   containing   machinery,    "  dead  " 

when  children  work 6) 

Sheds  containing  no  machinery 19 


The  sheds  are,  therefore,  in  most  cases  clearly  a  part  of  the 
general  manufacturing  plant  since  they  are  one  of  a  group  of 
buildings  constituting  the  factory. 


132  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

A  significant  point  to  be  borne  in  mind  is  that  24  out  of  33  of 
these  sheds  in  which  young  children  were  found  working  have 
provision  for  artificial  lighting  by  which  work  may  be  carried 
on  after  nightfall.  This  has  made  possible  the  abuses  in  the  em- 
ployment of  children  that  have  been  called  to  the  Commission's 
attention. 

It  is  our  conclusion  from  personal  inspection,  from  the  reports 
of  the  investigators,  and  from  the  testimony  of  witnesses  given 
before  us  that  the  majority  of  the  cannery  sheds  more  nearly 
resemble  factories  than  places  in  which  agricultural  labor  is 
carried  on. 

AGES  or  CHILDBED 

Because  the  cannery  sheds  have  been  exempted  from  the  factory 
law  the  canners  have  been  permitted  to  employ  in  them  children 
of  any  age.  The  ages  of  1,259  children  found  at  work  in  33  sheds 
are  as  follows : 

Ages  Number  of  Children 

14  to  16  years,  317 

10  to  14       "  801 

Under  10      "  141 

Of  the  children  found  at  work,  141  were  under  ten  years  old, 
ranging  from  three  years  up,  and  942  were  under  fourteen  years. 

Ages  of  Children  in  Sheds 

The  ages  of  1,259  children  found  at  work  in  33  sheds  are  as 
follows : 

Ages  Number  of  Children 

3  years  of  age,  1 

4  "  "  "  3 

5  "  "  "  30 

6  "  "  "  1C 

7  "  "  "  26 

8  "  "  "  46 

9  "  "  "  39 

10  "       "     "  180 

11  "       "     "  186 

12  "       "     "  239 


REPOBT  OF  COMMISSION.  133 

Ages.  Number  of  Children 

13  years  of  age  196 

14  "       "     "  188 

15  "       "     "  129 

For  the  following  reasons  these  figures  do  not  include  all  the 
children  who  were  employed  in  the  sheds : 

(1)  At  several  factories  which  were  known  to  employ  consider- 

able numbers  of  children,  only  a  few  were  found  at  work 
when  the  inspection  was  made. 

(2)  At  four  establishments    which    regularly    employ    children, 

none  were  found  at  work  during  our  inspection. 

(3)  At  one  cannery,  when  the  inspector  appeared  at  5:30  A.  M. 

approximately  two  hundred  children  of  all  ages  were 
hurried  away,  so  that  records  of  their  ages  could  not  be 
made.  These  children  were  apparently  already  working 
when  the  inspector  arrived. 

(4)  At  another  factory,  upon  the   inspector's  arrival,  fourteen 

children  ran  out  at  a  command  from  the  Italian  "  boss." 
All  seemed  to  be  and  probably  were  under  ten  years  of  age. 
This  factory  pretended  to  employ  no  children  under  that 
age. 

Taking  into  consideration  those  factories  where  we  were  unable 
to  get  facts,  it  is  our  opinion  that  if  450  children  were  added  to 
the  number  found  at  work  by  the  inspectors,  the  total  of  1,700 
would  represent  approximately  the  number  of  children  under  six- 
teen who  found  employment  last  summer  in  the  cannery  sheds  of 
New  York  State. 

TYPE  OF  WOKK  DONE  BY  CHILDREN 

The  work  of  the  children  in  the  sheds  is  confined  to  the 
snipping  of  beans  and  the  husking  of  corn.  The  work  of 
"  snipping  "  is  simple.  At  the  end  of  the  bean  which  has  been 
next  to  the  vine  is  a  small  collar  and  at  the  other  end  is  a  stringy 
point.  To  prepare  the  beans  for  canning,  these  collars  and  points 
must  be  snipped  off.  The  beans  are  brittle  when  snipped  and  it 
requires  only  a  quick  twist  to  remove  the  collar  and  the  strfngy 


134  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

point.  No  great  muscular  effort  is  required,  but  after  a  day  of 
snipping  at  the  beginning  of  the  season,  it  is  usual  for  the  wrist 
to  become  lame  and  the  fingers  sore.  In  children  these  effects 
are  aggravated. 

At  a  number  of  factories,  including  those  where  the  largest 
number  of  children  are  employed,  the  children  who  snip  the  beans 
carry  the  full  boxes  to  the  weigher  to  be  weighed,  a  distance 
sometimes  of  100  to  200  feet  and  even  farther.  The  majority  of 
the  boxes  when  full  weigh  from  19  to  21  pounds,  and  some  as 
much  as  29  pounds. 

Corn  husking  requires  more  effort  than  bean  snipping.  It 
sometimes  takes  all  the  strength  of  a  small  child  to  tear  the  husks 
from  the  ear  of  corn  and  to  break  the  stalk  from  the  ear.  This 
operation  when  it  is  performed  for  long  hours  becomes  fatiguing 
even  to  an  adult.  The  crates  of  corn  are  carried  to  the  checker 
usually  by  two  persons  and  weigh  from  40  to  60  pounds.  In 
many  canneries  children  of  all  ages,  both  girls  and  boys,  carry 
the  crates.  The  strain  is  considerably  greater  than  in  carrying 
boxes  of  snipped  beans.  Small  girls  have  been  seen  tugging  at 
crates  that  they  were  hardly  able  to  carry. 

The  seats  provided  for  the  shed  workers  are  poor.  In  prac- 
tically all  of  the  cannery  sheds  which  the  Commission  personally 
inspected,  boxes  without  any  backs  were  provided.  These  were 
often  too  high  or  too  low  and  not  properly  adjusted  for  work. 
The  light  and  ventilation  in  the  sheds  is  good,  but  because  one 
or  more  sides  of  the  sheds  are  open,  the  workers  are  often  ex- 
posed to  dampness  and  cold. 

HOURS  OF  LABOR 

No  record  is  kept  of  the  hours  of  labor  of  children  in  the  sheds, 
and  so  far  as  the  canner  is  concerned  they  are  free  to  come  and 
go  as  they  please.  Children  told  the  Commission  that  they 
often  worked  in  the  sheds  from  early  in  the  morning  till  late  at 
night.  At  one  canning  factory  our  inspector  reported  as  follows: 

"Inspector  stayed  at  factory  till  9:30  P.  M.  Twenty-three 
children  under  fourteen  years  in  shed  till  9:15  p.  M.  Some 
left  then,  but  about  a  dozen  stayed  later. '  When  inspector 
first  came,  children  were  carrying  boxes  of  beans  weighing 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  135 

15  to  25  pounds  from  shed  to  factory,  a  distance  of  about 
150  feet,  to  be  weighed.  Later,  however,  a  man  with  a 
wheelbarrow  brought  them  to  the  factory.  '  At  9:10  a  girl 
of  thirteen  and  a  boy  of  eleven  went  to  sleep  at  their  work, 
bent  over  the  boxes  into  which  they  had  been  snipping,  their 
heads  resting  on  their  arms.  Boys  told1  the  inspector  that 
'Boss'  had  said  snipping  would  commence  at  4  o'clock  next 
morning.  One-half  of  the  shed  was  covered  a  foot  deep  with 
beans  which  were  held  over  night." 

Children  as  young  as  four  and  five  were  reported  to  be  working 
at  night,  but  they  were  with  their  parents.  Many  children  ten 
years  of  age  and  over  came  alone.  At  some  factories  no  snip- 
ping is  carried  on  at  night.  At  others  the  work  goes  on  in  the 
shed  sometimes  until  eleven  o'clock,  according  to  the  policy  of 
each  factory.  The  factories  which  employ  children  fall  into 
two  groups:  those  which  use  local  American  help  for  snipping 
and  husking  and  those  which  employ  foreigners  to  do  the  work. 
In  the  former,  the  conditions  are  usually  much  better  than  in 
the  latter.  The  canner,  to  get  his  beans  snipped,  must  either 
bring  out  a  larger  number  of  foreigners  from  the  city,  at  in- 
creased expense,  or  work  those  he  has  for  longer  hours.  For 
this  reason  the  hours  of  shed  work  are  generally  longer  in  fac- 
tories where  foreigners  are  employed.  It  was  in  a  factory  where 
the  workers  were  Italians  and  Poles  that  two  hundred  children 
were  sent  scampering  away  when  an  inspector  appeared  at 
5 :30  A.  M. 

CHILDREN  FORCED  TO  WORK 

When  the  snippers  are  foreigners,  their  exploitation  is  the  rule 
and  not  the  exception.  Children  are  commonly  driven  by  their 
parents  to  work  for  long  hours.  The  canners  keep  the  sheds 
open  for  labor,  and  supply  the  beans  or  corn  to  be  snipped  or 
husked.  The  parents  see  that  the  children  are  there  to  work. 
This  fact  is  illustrated  from  the  following  paragraph  taken  from 
the  report  of  a  "  working  investigator  " : 

"The  parents  are  continually  driving  children  to  work. 
One  little  boy,  aged  11,  who  was  throwing  some  bean  snip- 


136  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

pings  at  another  had  stopped  work  a  second.  His  father  hit 
him  brutally  across  the  face  and  set  him  to  work  again. 
Everywhere  parents  are  forcing  the  'kids'  to  work." 

Again  an  investigator  reports: 

"Nellie  V says  she  is  10,  but  she  looks  8.        She 

snipped  from  4 :30  A.  M.  to  7  A.  M.  ;  from  7 :30  A.  M.  to  12  M.  ; 
from  12 :30  p.  M.  to  5  p.  M.  She  got  up  at  4  A.  M.  Liked  to 
snip,  but  was  'awful  tired.'  Said  her  mother  made  her  keep 
at  it." 

The  following  is  a  report  of  an  investigator  who  worked  in  a 
factory  employing  Italians: 

"  Little  Jack,  aged  12,  up  from  3  A.  M.  and  snipping  from 
4:30  A.  M.  to  10  P.  M.,  with  only  a  few  minutes  for  supper, 
said:  'My  fingers  is  broke.'  He  went  to  bed  last  night  at  12 
and  got  up  at  3.  He  said  he  was  '  awful  tired,'  but  his 
mother  made  him  work.  He  tried  to  go  home  several  times. 
His  hands  were  swollen.  His  sister,  aged  10,  could  hardly 
keep  her  eyes  open,  and  her  mother  scolded  her  constantly. 
Jack  made  $1.40.  He  said  he  couldn't  keep  any  of  it.  He 
said  work  like  this  was  nothing  to  peas  when  his  mother 
and  sister  would  come  home  every  night  at  1  and  2  A.  M.  and 
'  they  was  so  sick  they  fell  down  and  vomited.' '  (August 
20,  1912). 

The  next  day  the  investigator  reported: 

"  This  morning  when  I  got  to  the  shed  at  7,  Jack  was 
sitting  wrapped  up  in  a  big  shawl,  very  pale,  with  his  black 
eyes  just  sagging  out  of  his  head.  He  had  his  fingers  done 
up  in  a  dirty  rag.  I  asked  him  if  he  had  to  get  up  at  3  again. 
He  said :  '  They  pulled  me  out  of  bed  at  4  o'clock.'  His  sis- 
ter cried,  but  they  had  to  go  '  or  get  a  beating.' 

Another  little  chap,  about  11,  who  had  snipped  from 
4  A.  M.  to  7  P.  M.  yesterday,  and  to-day  from  6  :30  A.  M.  to 
10  P.  M.,  told  me  he  thought  it  was  '  only  8  o'clock  at  night 
when  they  dragged  him  out  this  morning  at  4.'  He  thought 
he  had  been  asleep  '  only  a  minute.' " 

The  following  is  from  the  evidence  given  at-  the  Albany  hear- 
ing by  Miss   Mary   Chamberlain,   one  of  the   inspectors  of  the 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  137 

Commission,  concerning  the  hours  of  labor  of  some  of  the  shed 
workers  in  the  establishment  in  which  she  was  employed: 

Milly  V ,  aged  10,  shed  worker: 

On  August  15th  she  worked  from  11  A.  M.  until  6  :45  p.  M., 
7  3/4  hours,  and  ate  only  a  peach  for  lunch. 

August  17th  she  worked  from  7 :30  A.  M.  until  10 :30  A.  M., 
picking;  10:30  A.  M.  until  3  p.  M.,  snipping,  and  ate  a  little 
bread  and  butter  for  lunch ;  total  7  1/2  hours. 

August  20th  she  worked  from  4 :30  A.  M.  until  7 :30  A.  M., 
snipping;  11  A.  M.  until  12:30  P.  M.,  snipping;  1  P.  M.  until 
6  P.  M.,  snipping;  6:30  P.  M.  until  9:30  p.  M.,  snipping; 
total  12  1/2  hours. 

Q.  That  child  went  to  work  that  day  at  what  hour? 
A.  4:30  in  the  morning. 

Q.  And  she  stopped  at  what  time  ?    A.  9 : 30  P.  M. 

August  21st  she  worked  from  4:30  A.  M.  until  7  A.  M., 
snipping;  7:30  A.  M.  until'12  M.,  snipping;  12:30  p.  M.  until 
5  P.  M.,  snipping;  total  11  1/2  hours. 

August  24th  she  worked  from  11 :30  A.  M.  until  6  P.  M., 
and  she  ate  a  little  while  she  was  snipping ;  she  worked  from 
6:30  P.  M.  until  11  o'clock  at  night,  snipping,  a  total  of  11 
hours. 

August  26th  she  worked  from  4  o'clock  in  the  morning 
until  7:30,  snipping;  from  8  o'clock  until  12:30,  snipping; 
1  until  6,  snipping;  6:30  until  10,  snipping;  total  161/2 
hours. 

Q.  From  4:30  in  the. morning  until  when?  A.  Until  ten 
o'clock  at  night. 

Where  American  help  is  used  for  snipping  or  husking,  work 
seldom  commences  before  7  A.  M.  and  never,  to  our  knowledge, 
before  6  A.  M.  Where  foreigners  are  used,  it  is  not  unusual  for 
work  to  commence  at  4  or  4:30  A.  M.  when  the  rush  of  beans  or 
corn  is  on.  Where  Americans  are  employed  the  children  seldom 
do  other  work  during  the  day.  The  Italian  children,  however, 
when  the  crops  are  coming  in,  are  frequently  roused  at  dawn, 
snip  till  it  becomes  light,  pick  beans  in  the  fields  after  they  dry 
off  from  the  night  dew,  and  with  nightfall  go  into  the  sheds  and 
snip  again. 


138  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

Where  American  help  is  employed  for  snipping,  the  children 
are  in  some  cases  forced  by  their  parents  to  do  this  work,  as  the 
following  report  of  a  "  working  investigator  "  indicates : 

"  Lucy  D.,  11  years,  came  into  the  shed  and  said  she  didn't 
want  to  string.  I  asked  her  why  she  did  it  and  she  said, 
'  I've  got  to.' " 

Cases  in  which  American  mothers  force  their  children  to  work 
are,  however,  the  exception  and  not  the  rule,  and  even  then  the 
children  are  not  forced  to  work  excessive  hours.  Many  of  the 
American  children  are  eager  to  go  to  the  sheds  where  there  are 
many  other  children  and  where  they  can  earn  a  little  spending 
money. 

There  are  nevertheless  unquestionably  some  instances  of  child 
exploitation  when  the  sheds  are  kept  open  for  work  up  to  14 
hours  a  day,  even  where  American  help  is  employed.  Since, 
however,  no  records  are  kept  of  the  hours  during  which  the  chil- 
dren work,  these  instances  could  be  discovered  only  by  careful 
study  of  such  individual  cases  as  we  were  able  to  trace.  For 
instance,  a  "  working  investigator  "  reports : 

"  Mrs.  McGr had  a  little  girl  aged  ten  in  the  factory. 

She  did  not  use  such  stringent  methods  of  forcing  the  child 
to  work  as  the  Italians  did,  but  kept  her  constantly  at  work 
six  or  seven  hours  a  day.  She  was  not  so  brutal  about  this 
as  the  Italians  were,  and  she  did  let  the  child  go  home  to 
meals,  and  stop  when  she  pleaded  and  pleaded  with  her 
mother  that  she  was  tired." 

WORK  IN  SHEDS  is  NOT  PLAY 

One  investigator  who  worked  in  the  sheds  comments  as  follows 
on  the  difference  in  the  attitude  toward  their  work  of  the  children 
at  the  beginning  of  the  bean  crop  and  later  when  the  season  is 
well  under  way: 

"  The  difference  in  the  attitude  of  the  children  toward 
snipping  is  very  noticeable.  At  first,  when  there  were  only 
a  few  hours  of  work  and  they  had  lots  of  time  to  '  help  mother 
snip  beans'  they  were  full  of  play  and  acted  like  real  chil- 
dren. Now  they  sit  like  little  machines  with  their  fingers 
tied  up  in  rags,  and  snip  away  all  day  long.  If  they  start 


REPOBT  OF  COMMISSION.  139 

for  home  or  evince  any  spirit  of  play,  they  are  promptly 
whacked  or  supplied  with  more  beans  by  their  parents." 

An  incident  which  occurred  at  one  factory  where  a  rule  was 
put  into  effect,  that  no  child  under  ten  is  permitted  to  snip,  illus- 
trates the  greed  of  parents  for  the  earnings  of  children.  Some 
boys  under  ten  got  into  the  shed  and  when  the  foreman  attempted 
to  put  one  out  he  fought  to  stay.  His  mother  came  to  his  rescue 
by  throwing  boxes  and  finally  managed  to  bite  the  foreman  vi- 
ciously on  the  arm.  If  the  mother  would  fight  in  this  way  to  have 
the  boy  permitted  to  work,  it  may  well  be  asked  what  she  would 
do  to  the  boy  should  he  refuse  to  work. 

Nor  are  the  parents  alone  to  blame.  Their  parental  love  is 
often  dulled  by  the  hard  grind  of  necessity.  Manifestly  a  can- 
ner  who  pays  low  wages  to  parents  cannot  argue  convincingly 
that  the  children  should  be  permitted  to  snip  beans  to  increase 
the  meager  earnings  of  the  family.  If  children  should  not  be 
permitted  to  work,  the  cannery  owner  would  still  be  under  the 
necessity  of  obtaining  the  labor  of  their  parents  and  unquestion- 
ably would  soon  have  to  pay  the  parents  approximately  what 
is  now  the  total  family  income. 

THE  NECESSITY  FOE  THE  EMPLOYMENT  OF  YOUNG  CHILDREN 

It  has  frequently  been  asserted  that  the  employment  of  young 
children  is  indispensable  in  this  industry.  We  have  not  found 
this  to  be  the  case.  There  are  in  the  state  76  canneries  in  all, 
packing  corn.  Our  investigators  received  information  from  68 
of  these  as  to  whether  they  employ  children  for  husking.  Of 
these  23  do  so  and  45  do  not.  In  other  words  about  two-thirds 
of  the  canners  pack  corn  without  employing  children  for  husking. 
The  following  table  shows  for  the  10  factories  packing  the  larg- 
est number  of  cases  of  corn,  set  forth  in  the  order  of  the  number 
of  cases  packed,  whether  or  not  they  employ  children  for 
husking : 

Factory  No.     1  Employs  children. 

"  "       2  Employs  no  Children. 


140  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

Factory  No.  5  Employs  no  children. 

t(  «  &  it  a  a 

a  «  a  "  a 


a 


" 


10  Employs  children. 


Only  two  of  the  ten  employ  children.  One  of  these  two  fac- 
tories has  the  largest  output  in  the  state,  but  the  owner  of  this 
factory  has  stated  to  the  inspector  that  he  intends  to  have  husk- 
ing machines  in  1913  and  thus  to  eliminate  child  labor  entirely. 

It  can  hardly  be  maintained  that  the  successful  packing  of 
corn  demands  the  employment  of  young  children.  Within  the 
last  few  years  husking  machines  have  been  perfected  which  husk 
corn  satisfactorily  and  they  are  rapidly  being  installed  in  the 
corn  canneries  of  the  state.  The  use  of  children  for  husking  is 
becoming  yearly  more  and  more  confined  to  the  small  canneries. 
It  is  only  a  matter  of  time  when  husking  will  be  done  entirely 
by  machine.  An  important  effect  of  a  law  prohibiting  the  em- 
ployment of  children  for  husking  will  be  to  hasten  the  substi- 
tution of  machinery.  In  the  long  run  this  change  will  probably 
prove  a  benefit,  not  a  detriment  to  the  industry. 

There  are,  in  all,  61  factories  in  the  state  packing  beans.  Of 
these  30  use  children  for  snipping;  6  send  beans  into  the  homes 
of  the  workers  to  be  snipped,  and  25  use  no  children.  In  other 
words,  half  of  the  factories  canning  beans  employ  no  children. 
The  following  table  shows  for  the  10  factories  packing  the  largest 
number  of  cases  of  beans,  set  forth  in  the  order  of  the  number 
of  cases  packed,  whether  or  not  they  employ  children  for 
snipping  : 

Factory  No.     1  Employs  children. 

«  «  o  "  " 

"       3  Employs  no  children. 

"       4  Sends  beans  into  homes. 

"       5  Employs  children. 

II  (I  Q  II  II 

"          "       7  Employs  no  children. 

"  "       8  Employs  children. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  141 

Factory  Ko.     9  Employs  children. 

"     10  Employs  no   children.      Part  of   snip- 

ping is  done  in  homes. 

The  existence  of  the  many  canners  who  pack  beans  without 
employing  children,  proves  that  child  labor  is  not  necessary  in 
that  industry  and  that  the  problem  of  its  elimination  is  simply 
a  question  of  adjusting  the  size  of  the  pack  to  the  available  adult 
labor  supply,  and  of  obtaining  a  larger  supply  of  adult  workers 
by  increased  wages. 

EMPLOYMENT  OF   CHILDREN   TO    OBTAIN  PARENTS'  LABOR 

A  number  of  canners  have  disclaimed  any  desire  to  employ 
children,  especially  the  younger  ones,  but  contend  that  the  labor 
of  their  parents  is  necessary  and  cannot  be  secured  unless  the 
children  are  allowed  to  accompany  them  to  the  factory.  Our 
investigations  proved,  however,  that  this  contention  is  without 
foundation.  Of  the  1,259  children  under  16  years  of  age  em- 
ployed in  the  sheds,  754  came  alone,  and  only  505  came  with 
their  parents. 

Provision  can  readily  be  made,  as  has  been  shown  in  the  case 
of  several  canning  factories  in  this  state,  for  places  in  which 
the  children  may  remain  with  a  caretaker  while  their  parents 
are  at  work.  This  is  an  inexpensive  method  by  which  the  can- 
ners may  employ  the  parents  without  employing  their  children. 

SUMMARY  OF   FINDINGS 

The  results  of  our  investigation  concerning  the  employment 
of  children  under  fourteen  in  cannery  sheds  may  briefly  be  sum- 
marized as  follows: 

1.  That  young  children  are  employed  in  cannery  sheds  to  an 
extent  unknown  in  any  other  industry  of  the  state. 

2.  That  work   in   the  cannery   sheds   is  more  closely   akin   to 
factory  work  than  to  agricultural  labor. 

3.  That  numerous  children  under  ten  years  are  employed  at 
such  work. 

4.  That  children  are  in  the  sheds  not  for  play  but  for  work. 


142  REPOBT  OF  COMMISSION. 

5.  That  children  are  kept  in  the  sheds  late  at  night  and  often, 
though  not  working,  are  deprived  of  necessary  sleep. 

6.  That  truancy  is  aggravated  by  child  labor  in  canneries,  and 
that  children,  particularly  of  foreign  parents,  are  often  deprived 
of  weeks  and  months  of  schooling. 

LAWS  IN  OTHEB  STATES 

In  Illinois,  Ohio,  Tennessee,  Iowa,  Maine,  Michigan,  Mis- 
souri, New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania,  nine  of  the  fifteen  leading 
canning  states,  no  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age  are  per- 
mitted to  work  either  in  the  factory  or  in  the  sheds. 

In  four  states,  California,  Indiana,  Maryland,  and  Georgia, 
no  child  under  12  years  may  be  employed  in  canneries.  In  the 
first  two  states  such  employment  is  permitted  only  during  va- 
cation time. 

In  but  one  of  the  leading  canning  states,  Delaware,  is  there 
total  exemption  from  a  fourteen-year  age  limit  applying  to  other 
industries. 

In  practically  all  of  the  large  canning  states,  therefore,  the 
employment  of  young  children  in  or  in  connection  with  a  can- 
ning factory  is  prohibited. 

RECOMMENDATION 

That  young  children  should  be  allowed  to  work  in  cannery 
sheds  under  the  conditions  that  have  been  described  is  a  wrong 
against  childhood  and  against  the  state.  During  vacation  time 
they  should  be  out  in  the  sunshine  at  play,  and  not  at  work  in 
a  cannery  shed.  In  our  industrial  life  they  should  not  be  made 
to  do  the  work  of  men  and  women.  The  state  must  not  suffer 
the  lives  of  its  children  to  be  blighted,  their  health  impaired, 
and  their  education  neglected  by  premature  employment. 

The  solicitude  of  the  canners  lest  the  family  income  be  re- 
duced if  children  are  prohibited  from  working,  deceives  no  one. 
Experience  in  other  industries  in  the  past  has  shown  the  con- 
trary to  be  the  case.  The  employment  of  young  children  in  the 
cannery  sheds  is  an  unnecessary  evil.  The  industry  can  get  along 
without  it.  Many  of  the  canners  themselves  are  opposed  to  such 


EEPOET  OF  COMMISSION.  143 

employment,  and  half  of  them  do  not  resort  to  it  to-day.  In  any 
event,  the  state  of  New  York  cannot  countenance  a  plea  by  any 
industry  that  it  is  dependent  for  its  prosperity  upon  the  employ- 
ment of  young  children. 

We  recommend  therefore  that  the  definition  of  the  word  "  fac- 
tory "  in  the  labor  law  be  amended  so  as  to  include  "  all  build- 
ings, sheds,  structures  or  other  places  used  for  or  in  connection 
with  any  mill,  workshop  or  other  manufacturing  or  business  es- 
tablishment, and  that  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age  be 
prohibited  from  working  in  connection  with  any  factory  or  for 
any  factory  at  any  place  in  this  state."  This  should  not  apply, 
however,  to  children  working  on  their  home  farms  for  their 
parents."'"  Boys  over  the  age  of  12  years  may  be  employed  in 
gathering  produce  for  not  more  than  six  hours. 

The  proposed  bill  recommended  in  the  preceding  section  of  the 
report  to  prohibit  the  employment  of  young  children  in  tenement- 
house  work  has  been  drafted  so  as  to  cover  the  prohibition  of  the 
employment  of  children  in  the  cannery  sheds. 

WOMEN'S  WORK  IN  THE  CANNERIES 

The  main  purpose  of  this  inquiry  has  been  to  furnish  informa- 
tion on  which  the  legislature  may  determine  how  many  hours 
per  day  and  week  the  state  of  New  York  should  permit  women 
to  work  in  the  canning  industry.  The  needs  of  the  worker  and 
the  demands  of  the  industry  must  both  be  considered.  The 
constitutional  basis  for  all  laws  restricting  women's  hours  of 
labor  is  the  protection  of  their  health  by  preventing  exhausting 
labor. 

CONDITIONS  OF  LABOR 

According  to  our  most  careful  estimate  approximately  7,000 
women  were  employed  in  the  New  York  State  fruit  and  vegetable 
canneries  in  1912.f  The  conditions  under  which  they  worked 
varied  from  factory  to  factory  and  according  to  occupation. 

An  important  part  of  the  canners'  plea  for  exemption  of  their 
industry  from. the  application  of  the  factory  law,  rests  upon  the 
rural  surroundings  of  the  factories  and  the  nature  of  the  work. 
The  investigation  of  the  Commission,  however,  shows  that  the 

Bill   8,   Appendix   I. 

This  does  not  include  shed  workers  or  women  employed  in  pickle  factories, 
fruit  drying  establishment.*-  or  fish  ranneries. 


144  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

canneries,  though  differing  occasionally  from  other  factories  in 
the  matter  of  light  and  ventilation,  nevertheless  resemble  them 
in  certain  essential  respects. 

In  particular,  the  canneries,  like  other  factories,  are  filled  with 
machinery.  Much  of  this  machinery  is  noisy  and  some  of  it  is 
dangerous.  Projecting  set-screws  or  power-driven  machinery, 
unguarded  bolts,  chains,  and  pulleys  are  common.  The  work  in 
the  cannery  factory  is  for  the  most  part  speeded  to  keep  pace 
with  the  machines. 

The  accompaniment  characteristic  of  all  factory  work  of 
women  is  strain.  All  the  causes  that  may  contribute  to  strain  in 
other  industries  are  also  present  in  the  canneries;  for  example, 
heat  and  cold,  glare  (when  work  is  done  by  artificial  light),  noise 
of  machinery,  sitting  in  uncomfortable  positions  or  standing,  wet 
floors,  danger  from  machinery,  heavy  lifting,  and  monotony  of 
toil.  Nearly  half  of  the  women,  47  %,  work  amid  a  steady  grind- 
ing of  machinery,  sometimes  so  great  as  to  prevent  conversation. 
Indeed,  great  noise  always  attends  the  operation  of  certain  in- 
dispensable machines  at  which  large  numbers  of  women  are  em- 
ployed. This  fact  is  especially  significant  in  measuring  strain 
in  a  working  day  of  from  twelve  to  twenty  hours. 

Even  in  the  matters  of  temperature,  ventilation  and  light,  the 
conditions  in  the  canneries  were  often  found  to  resemble  those 
in  many  other  factories.  For  instance,  the  work  is  done  in 
summer  and  in  many  cases  the  factory  buildings  are  hot  because 
of  the  cooking  of  products.  There  were  found  11%  of  the 
women  working  where  the  heat  was  excessive  and  19%  where  the 
ventilation  was  poor  or  only  fair.  Furthermore,  16%  of  the 
women  were  working  in  bad  light.  This  circumstance  caused 
eye  strain  day  after  day. 

The  floors  were  wet  where  19%  of  the  women  worked,  a  con- 
dition due  in  many  cases  to  carelessness,  but  in  others  to  processes 
in  which  it  is  impossible  to  keep  the  floors  dry.  Such  a  simple 
precaution  as  the  provision  of  a  slat  floor  above  the  cement  or 
wooden  floor  is  rarely  seen.  In  nine  sheds  in  which  women  and 
children  worked  there  was  no  artificial  floor  whatever. 

For  5%  of  the  women  there  were  no  seats;  where  seats  were 
provided  77%  were  without  backs.  Boxes,  stools,  often  uncom- 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  145 

fortably  high  in  relation  to  the  work,  and  seats  without  backs, 
formed  the  equipment.  In  general,  the  height  of  these  seats  has 
no  relation  to  the  age,  height,  health,  or  comfort  of  the  worker. 
No  conspicuous  value,  therefore,  attaches  to  the  claim  that  the 
rural  surroundings  of  canneries  offset  the  disadvantages  of  long 
and  irregular  working  days  for  women. 

VARIETIES  OF  WORK 
Tomato  Peeling 

It  seems  to  be  the  general  opinion  among  the  canners,  and  it  is 
probably  the  fact,  that  women  when  standing  can  peel  tomatoes 
more  rapidly  than  when  seated.  Many  canners  accordingly  do  not 
provide  seats.  The  tomatoes  are  first  scalded  and  then  carried 
in  pails  to  the  workers.  Often  they  are  steaming  hot  and  fill  the 
air  with  vapor.  The  whole  process  is  extremely  damp.  The 
floors  usually  become  wet  and  the  workers  themselves  are  soaked 
unless  well  protected  by  waterproof  aprons,  which  are  furnished 
by  a  few  factories.  At  certain  factories  the  women  must  carry 
from  the  scalder  to  their  tables  twelve-quart  pails  of  tomatoes, 
and  after  peeling  them,  from  the  table  to  the  "  checker."  A 
description  follows  of  the  process  at  one  factory  where  the  worst 
conditions  prevail: 

"  Sixty-eight  women,  and  eight  girls  between  14  and  16 
years  of  age,  stand  peeling  tomatoes.     Floors  are  damp  and 
air  is  laden  with  steam,  especially  near  the  scalder.    Women 
carry  dish-pans  of  tomatoes  to  tables  from  the  scalder,  and 
pails  from  the  tables  to  the  checking  place,  a  total  distance  of 
about  36  paces.     The  weight  of  the  pans  and  pails  was  about 
25  pounds  each.     The  superintendent  said  at  4  cents  a  pail, 
women  averaged  $1.50  a  day.     This  means  carrying  about 
four  loads  an  hour  or  37  1/2  a  day.     The  owner  said  it  did 
women  good  to  stand  and  carry  pans  and  pails :    '  It  gives 
them  exercise,'  he  said.     ~No  seats  were   provided  for  the 
tomato  peelers  except  for  one  very  stout  woman." 
Other  factories  maintained  better  conditions.     Several  provide 
men  or  conveyors  to  carry  loads,  and  a  few  have  installed  porce- 
lain sorting  tables  with  little  basins  at  the  places  where  women 
sit  to  peel  tomatoes. 
10 


146  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

Sorting 

Peas,  beans,  and  corn,  before  being  placed  in  the  cans,  go 
through  various  processes.  Peas  first  come  from  the  viner  and 
go  through  a  cleaner  which,  by  an  air  current,  blows  out  much 
foreign  matter.  They  then  pass  through  a  grader  which  sepa- 
rates them  according  to  size.  There  still  remain  in  the  peas 
thistles,  pieces  of  pods,  and  broken  particles.  To  remove  these 
the  peas  are  run  over  "  sorting  tables  "  or  moving  belts  along  the 
sides  of  which  women  sit  and  pick  out  foreign  matter. 

Pea  graders  are  constructed  of  horizontal  metal  planes  with 
holes  for  the  peas  to  fall  through.  In  bean  graders  wire  frames 
are  used  instead.  These  planes  or  frames  are  shaken  by  power 
and  the  machines  when  operated  emit  a  continuous  roar.  It  is  often 
almost  impossible  to  carry  on  a  conversation  where  the  women 
sorters  work.  Two-thirds  of  the  women  bean  sorters  worked 
where  the  noise  was  excessive.  Sometimes  the  sorting  tables  are 
located  near  the  washers  or  blanchers,  with  the  result  that  the 
floors  are  wet  where  the  sorters  work. 

Sorting  is  partly  "  machine-paced."  The  women  pick  over 
products  passed  before  them,  and  if  they  are  conscientious,  or  if 
they  are  closely  under  the  supervision  of  a  forewoman  or  super- 
intendent, they  keep  pace  with  the  machine.  Investigators  de- 
scribe women,  when  the  conveyor  has  carried  beans  past  faster 
than  they  could  be  handled  properly,  frantically  pushing  them 
back  in  the  hope  that  the  stream  would  soon  slacken.  If  the 
employer  tries  to  drive  the  machinery  too  fast,  however,  the  qual- 
ity of  the  pack  suffers,  for  the  women  do  not  attempt  to  sort 
cleanly.  An  offset  to  speeding  is  the  fact  that  in  many  smaller 
factories  slack  moments  are  frequent,  due  to  breakdowns  in  ma- 
chinery and  changing  of  grades  of  beans  on  the  tables. 

The  steady,  ever-moving  stream  of  peas  and  beans  often  pro- 
duces nausea  akin  to  sea-sickness,  to  such  a  degree  that  some 
women  are  unable  to  continue  the  work.  Eye-strain,  especially 
in  picking  out  small  foreign  particles  from  peas,  is  often  intense. 

The  following  reports  are  from  women  investigators  of  the 
Commission  who  actually  worked  at  sorting: 

"  Mrs.  P told  me  at  lunch  time  that  she  had  a  very  sick 

headache.     Working  at  bean  tables  always  makes  her  ill. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  147 

"  Towards  the  close  of  the  afternoon  Dolly  R ,  who 

sorted  peas,  complained  of  headache.  She  said  she  had  worn 
thin  slippers  and  got  her  feet  wet.  She  hopes  that  she  can 
work  inside  at  weighing  beans,  as  working  at  the  tables 
makes  her  ill. 

"I  went  to  work  at  7  o'clock  this  morning  (Sunday).  I 
worked  several  hours  at  sorting  peas  and  then  became  so 
dreadfully  sick  that  I  had  to  leave  the  factory.  This  work 
is  simple  enough  and  does  not  require  great  physical  effort, 
but  the  factory  was  so  insufferably  hot,  damp,  and  smelly, 
that  I  became  sick  in  a  very  few  hours.  The  floors  are  con- 
crete and  covered  with  water;  the  room  is  hot  and  full  of 
steam;  the  noise  of  machinery  is  deafening,  and  the  com- 
bination was  more  than  I  could  stand.  An  American  girl 
working  in  the  warehouse  told  me  that  she  too  had  been 
working  at  the  sorting  table  on  Saturday  and  that  she  could 
not  stand  it.  The  other  two  American  women  said  that 
they  worked  at  the  sorting  table  last  year  and  it  made  them 
dizzy  and  sick. 

"  Sorting  is  very  hard  on  the  eyes ;  all  the  women  complain 
of  this.  One  said  that  when  she  got  home  at  night  she  took 
up  the  paper  and  tried  to  read,  but  '  the  print  kept  flying  by 
just  like  the  peas.'  The  light  is  very  good,  however,  and 
the  electric  lights  are  quite  adequate.  After  eleven  hours 
of  work  the  eyes  of  all  the  women  looked  very  tired. 

"  The  bean  tables  are  right  under  the  combination  grader 
and  sorter,  and  the  noise  is  terrific  —  simply  ear  splitting ; 
my  ears  are  still  ringing.  Combined  with  the  jiggling  of 
the  grader  the  work  is  most  unpleasant.  It  makes  one  quite 
seasick,  though  sorting  beans  is  not  so  monotonous  and  try- 
ing on  the  eyes  as  sorting  peas. 

"  Mrs.  McA worked  on  the  bean  sorter  this  morning. 

It  made  her  sick  at  her  stomach  (very!)  and  she  could  not 
work  on  it  this  afternoon.  It  gives  one  the  same  sensation 
as  sea-sickness  when  the  graders  go  up  and  down  and  the 
beans  move  forward  on  the  tables." 

Feeding  Corn  Cutters 

Corn  cutting  machines  are  usually  fed  by  women.  The  task 
of  feeding  the  cutters  is  unpleasant,  because,  almost  without 
exception,  the  workers  must  stand,  and  the  sticky  milk  of  the 


148  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

corn  spatters  over  them.  This  is  the  most  highly  speeded  work 
in  any  of  the  canneries.  The  accident  reports  of  the  labor  de- 
partment show  that  several  fingers  are  lost  in  canneries  every 
year.  Undoubtedly  most  of  these  are  caught  in  corn  cutters, 
since  the  hands  of  operators  come  near  the  knives  of  the  cutters 
and  are  likely  to  be  drawn  in,  especially  if  a  piece  of  cob  gets 
lodged  in  the  entrance  to  the  knives  and  an  attempt  is  made  to 
remove  it  with  the  fingers.  One  large  factory  uses  only  men  for 
work  at  the  corn  cutters. 

Filling  and  Weighing 

The  next  process  is  the  filling  and  weighing.  The  cans  are 
required  by  law  to  equal  a  certain  weight.  Those  for  peas  and 
corn  are  usually  filled  by  machines.  Berries  are  sorted  directly 
into  cans.  Beans  are  put  into  cans  partly  by  machinery,  but  must 
be  balanced  by  the  proper  weight.  Cherries,  tomatoes,  pears,  etc., 
are  placed  in  cans  by  hand. 

This  work  is  usually  paid  by  the  piece  and  consequently  is 
done  at  a  high  rate  of  speed.  The  products  worked  on  are  often 
steaming  and  the  air  is,  therefore,  filled  with  vapor.  Workers  at 
this  task  usually  stand,  for  no  seats  are  provided.*  It  is  regarded 
as  one  of  the  most  skilled  tasks  in  the  factory.  Workers  often 
get  their  fingers  cut  on  the  sides  of  the  cans,  and  the  acids,  espe- 
cially in  tomato  filling,  irritate  the  sores.  Here  are  reports  of 
"  working  investigators  "  regarding  this  work : 

"Lizzie  J complained  in  the  morning  that  she  did 

not  feel  at  all  well,  so  I  was  not  surprised  when  she  did  not 
return  in  the  afternoon.  Her  place  was  taken  for  a  few 
minutes  by  a  young  girl  called  Emma,  who  is  working 
at  filling  cans  with  peas.  She  said  it  was  hard  because  they 
have  to  stand  all  the  time. 

"Mr.  J said  I  could  probably  arrange  to  get  a  job 

filling  cans.  The  only  trouble  was  that  it  is  very  hard  on 
the  hands  as  the  can  sometimes  cuts  the  fingers  which  always 
have  to  be  protected." 

*  At  one  plant  seats  were  provided  for  the  women  "  fillers  "  for  the  first 
time  on  the  day  of  the  Commission's  visit  to  the  factory. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  149 

On  the  Line 

After  cans  have  been  filled  they  are  passed  to  the  "  capping 
line,"  a  series  of  machines  which  fill  cans  with  syrup,  stamp  them 
to  show  variety  and  grade,  and  seal  them.  Women  are  largely 
employed  in  the  four  operations  connected  with  this  process. 

The  machine  used  for  filling  peas  and  corn  often  begins  "  the 
line."  Into  it  cans  are  fed  by  a  chute  leading  generally  from  the 
second  floor.  Here  a  woman  —  in  some  factories  two  women  or 
a  boy  —  feeds  cans  into  the  chute.  The  rate  of  work  is  deter- 
mined absolutely  by  the  speed  of  machinery  that  demands  very 
rapid  action  when  only  one  woman  is  employed.  A  machine  has 
been  invented  which  automatically  rights  cans  at  the  "  filler." 
Such  a  machine  wherever  installed  greatly  relieves  the  tension 
of  work,  for  then  cans  need  not  be  placed  in  the  chute  right  side 
up  as  is  otherwise  the  case.  This  machine,  however,  is  not  yet  very 
extensively  used. 

Women  also  put  caps  on  cans.  The  cans  go  over  "  the  line  " 
at  the  rate  of  40  to  110  per  minute.  The  capping  machine  in 
most  general  use  has  a  capacity  of  about  72  cans  per  minute.  As 
the  cans  go  by,  the  women  must  place  a  small  tin  cap  on  each 
can.  The  speed  is  regulated  absolutely  by  machinery  and  often 
women  work  at  high  tension.  In  22  factories  only  one  woman  was 
used  on  a  "line;"  35  factories  used  two.  A  machine  greatly 
relieving  this  strain  has  been  invented  which  automatically  places 
caps  on  cans  and  the  operator  has  only  to  feed  them  into  it.  Only 
a  few  factories,  however,  have  installed  this  machine  for  it  is  a 
recent  invention.  The  women  who  put  on  these  caps  always  work 
close  to  a  row  of  twelve  red-hot  soldering  irons,  and  often  the 
heat  is  excessive.  Very  commonly,  too,  the  floors  are  wet. 

Here  are  reports  from  "  working  investigators  "  regarding  this 
capping  machine  work : 

"  Lizzie  J—  -  who  works  most  of  the  time  at  the  capping 
machine  was  transferred  to  the  sorting  tables  and  I  sat  next 
to  her.  She  told  me  that  a  man  had  invented  a  machine  to 
put  on  caps,  so  now  there  is  only  one  girl  who  puts  them  on 
by  hand.  She  said  it  was  '  frightfully  hot  work.' 

"A  girl  who  works  at  the  capping  machine  said  that  she 
found  it  '  very  hot.' " 


150  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

Sixteen  factories  employ  women  for  "  inspecting."  Unless 
cans  are  perfectly  sealed  the  contents  spoil.  The  capping  machine 
does  its  work  remarkably  well,  but  a  considerable  number  of  cans 
come  through  with  slight  defects.  The  "  inspector  "  sits  by  "  the 
line,"  and  as  the  cans  go  by  examines  each  one.  The  eye  strain 
of  the  work  is  intense  and  frequently  aggravated  by  defective 
lighting.  These  inspectors  suffer  the  same  heat  as  the  women  who 
put  on  the  caps,  since  each  is  placed  at  about  an  equal  distance 
from  the  hot  soldering  irons.  Floors  where  inspectors  work  are 
often  wet. 

The  speed  of  tasks  "  on  the  line  "  is,  as  has  been  said,  deter- 
mined by  the  speed  of  the  machinery,  and  women  often  work  at 
high  tension.  This  strain  is  partly  offset  by  the  fact  that  there 
are  frequent  interruptions  in  the  work,  due  to  changing  the  grade 
of  product.  In  the  larger  canneries  these  interruptions  are  not 
so  frequent  because  one  line  is  devoted  exclusively  to  one  grade 
of  goods.  Even  here,  however,  there  are  interruptions  due  to 
breaks  in  machinery  and  other  causes,  which  partially  relieve  the 
high  pressure. 

Labeling 

Before  the  cans  are  shipped  they  are  labeled,  and  some  of  the 
fancier  products  are  wrapped  in  tissue  paper.  This  is  usually 
done  in  the  storehouse,  though  not  always,  apart  from  the  noise 
and  strain  of  most  of  the  machinery.  Sometimes  labeling  is  done 
by  hand,  sometimes  by  a  hand-operated  machine,  and  sometimes 
by  one  driven  by  power.  Hand  labeling  is  usually  piece  work, 
so  there  is  incentive  to  rapid  work.  Machine  labeling  is  usually 
done  at  a  high  rate  of  speed.  A  description  follows  of  this  work 
at  one  factory: 

"Work  on  labeling  machine  keeps  me  at  pretty  high 
tension.  I  kept  track  of  the  speed  of  cans  through  the 
machine  this  afternoon.  This  is  the  speed  per  minute,  ten 
different  minutes,  at  which'  cans  passed  in  front  of  the  label 
inspector:  140,  141,  150,  112,  160,  20,  100,  148,  100,  140. 
She  must  take  out  any  unlabeled  can  or  one  with  a  flaw.  Tt 
keeps  one  busy  and  is  trying  on  the  eyes.-  One  also  uses  the 
sense  of  feeling  by  keeping  the  hand  running  over  the  cans. 
The  gilt  of  the  can  labels  comes  off  and  makes  the  hand 
smart. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  151 

To  be  fair  in  judging  this  high  speed,  one  must  consider 
the  fact  that  now  and  then  there  is  a  stop  of  five  or  ten  min- 
utes when  there  is  trouble  with  the  machine  or  a  new  set 
of  labels  to  be  put  in.  When  there  are  small  orders,  there 
are  very  frequently  stops,  but  when  there  are  big  orders  of 
five  hundred  or  more  cases,  the  high  rate  of  speed  continues 
quite  a  while.  Also  one  must  consider  that  there  are  two 
girls  on  each  machine,  one  inspecting  and  one  repairing, 
so  that  when  one  girl  cannot  stand  the  inspecting  longer,  the 
other  can  shift  into  her  place.  The  noise  is  terrific,  worse 
than  at  the  pea  sorting  tables,  and  almost  as  bad  as  at  the 
bean  tables.  The  clap  of  the  cans  going  into  the  machine, 
which  sounds  exactly  like  the  capping  machines,  the  roll  of 
the  trucks,  the  pounding  of  the  machine  which  nails  on  the 
case  covers,  the  clatter  of  the  cases  as  the  men  thump  them 
onto  the  carriers,  tires  one  extremely." 

Again  the  investigator  reported: 

"  This  afternoon  we  packed  from  our  label  machine  1,100 
cases.  Since  I  worked  on  the  machine  all  the  afternoon,  I 
inspected  2,400  cans  or  80  per  minute.  This  was  steady 
work  for  the  orders  were  large." 

From  the  labeling  machine,  goods  are  packed  into  cases  ready 
for  shipment. 

The  Packing  of  Cans  in  Capes 

From  the  capping  lines,  cans  are  put  into  large  iron  crates  in 
which  they  are  immersed  in  great  vats  and  cooked.  Then  they 
are  cooled  in  tanks  of  water  and  after  they  are  labeled  are  taken 
to  the  storehouse  and  packed  in  cases.  Sometimes  women  do  this 
work.  One  "  working  investigator "  describes  this  process  as 
follows : 

"  Ten  hours  in  the  warehouse  to-day.  All  the  women  com- 
plained of  being  very  tired  before  our  work  was  over.  They 
kept  us  more  steadily  at  the  packing  of  boxes,  the  pauses 
being  less  frequent  and  of  shorter  duration  —  about  two 
minutes'  pause  every  half  hour  or  so.  We  work  very  fast 
and  stoop  constantly  to  get  the  cans  out  of  the  crates.  I 
have  aches  and  pains  all  over,  and  the  other  women  complain 


152  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

of  pains  in  their  arms.  The  foreman  told  us  that  if  the 
superintendent  came  and  saw  us  resting,  even  for  a  minute, 
he  would  send  some  of  the  women  away  to  the  factory  and 
make  it  so  much  harder  for  the  rest." 

CANNERY  WORK  ESSENTIALLY  FACTORY  WORK 

It  is  manifest  throughout  this  evidence  that  the  work  of  women 
in  canning  factories  is  distinctly  factory  work.  The  machinery 
in  the  modern  cannery  is  becoming  more  and  more  intricate  and 
highly  speeded.  There  is  extreme  nervous  and  physical  strain  in 
many  of  the  occupations  in  which  the  women  are  engaged.  These 
facts  must  be  considered  in  judging  the  strain  to  which  the  women 
are  subjected  by  excessively  long  hours  of  labor. 

THE  CANNERY  SEASON 

The  length  of  the  season  varies  from  cannery  to  cannery  accord- 
ing to  the  goods  packed.  As  a  rule,  berries  are  canned  in  June, 
peas  in  July,  beans  in  August  and  September,  corn  in  September 
and  October,  apples  and  pumpkins  in  November.  Some  factories 
pack  only  one  product.  Many  small  establishments  pack  only 
corn,  and  three  pack  only  peas.  For  these  factories  the  season 
lasts  only  a  few  weeks.  Two  factories  pack  only  peas  and  corn. 
Work  is  carried  on  in  them  a  few  weeks  in  the  spring  and  early 
summer,  and  again  a  few  weeks  in  the  fall.  Most  factories,  how- 
ever, pack  a  larger  number  of  products,  and  a  few  put  up  pork 
and  beans  or  plum  pudding,  so  that  work  in  them  lasts  practically 
all  the  year  round. 

The  length  of  the  period  of  each  crop  varies  from  year  to  year 
in  the  different  factories.  Some  years  the  weather  is  cold  during 
the  period  when  peas  are  ripening,  and  the  packing  is  conse- 
quently spread  over  five  or  six  weeks;  in  other  years  warm 
weather  brings  in  the  crop  more  quickly  and  the  season  is  shorter. 
Weather  conditions  in  certain  parts  of  the  canning  region  some- 
times make  crops  last  longer  than  in  others. 

The  methods  of  planting,  cultivating,  and  harvesting  crops  have 
much  to  do  with  determining  the  number  days  the  crops  last.  If 
a  canner  planted  all  his  beans  on  a  single  day,  which  is  of  course 
never  the  case,  he  might  expect  them  to  mature  on  a  certain  day. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  153 

If  the  planting  is  spread  out  over  a  number  of  days,  the  plantings 
do  not  mature  all  together.  If  then  the  canner  plans  to  spread 
his  plantings  over  many  days  or  weeks  the  duration  of  the  crop 
is  necessarily  longer  than  if  such  care  were  not  taken. 

A  canner  who  puts  up  a  large  pack  of  any  crop,  drawing  his 
products  from  an  extended  area  and  many  different  plots  of 
ground,  has  a  longer  season  than  one  who  puts  up  a  small  pack 
drawn  from  a  restricted  area,  since  varying  conditions  on  widely 
separated  farms  lead  to  early  and  late  ripening. 

The  period  when  perishable  products  are  canned  lasts  approxi- 
mately from  June  15th,  when  berries  begin,  until  October  15th, 
when  corn  ends.  It  is  true  that  strawberries  often  ripen  the 
second  week  in  June.  But  the  period  from  June  15th  to  October 
15th  is  fixed  by  the  canners  during  which  they  wish  an  exemption 
from  the  law  restricting  the  hours  of  women. 

RUSH  PEKIODS 

Every  crop  comes  on  slowly.  At  first  there  are  a  few  days 
when  work  in  the  canneries  is  light  and  the  hours  few.  Soon, 
however,  the  products  begin  to  come  in  more  rapidly,  and  almost 
invariably  the  hours  of  labor  increase  steadily  until  they  reach 
a  peak.  Then  they  recede  again  until,  at  the  end  of  the  crop, 
there  are  only  a  few  scattered  days  of  work.  Peas  ripen  more 
quickly  than  other  crops  and  deteriorate  faster  after  harvesting. 

In  factories  where  more  than  one  variety  of  vegetable  is  canned 
there  is  often  a  rush  of  work  for  each  variety  with  brief  slack 
periods  between.  Early  and  late  peas,  for  example,  often  result 
in  two  rush  periods  with  about  a  week  of  slack  work  between. 

Beans,  tomatoes,  and  corn  are  not  subject  to  such  sudden  ripen- 
ing and  are  not  so  perishable  as  peas.  Their  rush  periods  are 
therefore  not  so  extreme  as  the  rush  of  peas  and  are  longer 
sustained. 

Between  peas  and  beans  there  is  very  frequently  a  marked 
slackening  of  work,  during  which  the  factory  operates  but  a  few 
hours  per  day,  or  is  sometimes  shut  down  entirely.  !Not  often 
is  there  a  lapse  between  beans  and  corn.  Generally  the  two  crops 
run  together  so  that  there  is  sometimes  a  rush  of  work  rather  than 
a  slackening. 


154  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

Tomatoes  generally  ripen  at  about  the  same  time  as  corn,  and 
these  two  crops  run  together  causing  an  unusual  rush  of  work. 
For  this  reason  some  canners  who  pack  one  of  these  crops  do  not 
pack  the  other,  although  both  may  be  grown  profitably  in  their 
territory.  The  days  and  hours  of  work  are  most  consecutive  where 
the  greatest  variety  of  products  are  packed. 

HOHES  OF  LABOR  OF  WOMEN 

The  information  of  the  Commission  regarding  working  hours 
is  based  on  complete  transcripts  for  two  years,  1910  and  1911,  of 
official  records  of  70  different  canneries. 

The  longest  hours  per  week  discovered  were  119%,  worked  by 
a  woman  in  one  factory  during  the  pea  season  of  1912;  and  the 
longest  hours  per  day  discovered  were  211^,  worked  by  a  woman 
in  another  factory  during  the  cherry  and  berry  season  of  1911. 
These  are  extreme  cases,  but  it  is  an  indisputable  fact  that  many 
canneries  during  the  rush  periods  work  women  for  excessive  hours. 

The  following  tables  show  the  longest  hours  of  labor  per  day 
and  per  week  recorded  in  the  canneries  in  1911 : 

Hours  Worked;  Longest  Day 
13  canneries  worked  women  12  hours  or  less 
20         "  "  "        12  to  14  hours 

19         "  "  "        15  to  17  hours 

13         "  "  "        18  hours  or  more. 

Hours  Worked;  Longest  Week 

15  canneries  worked  women  under  60  hours 
8         "  "  "        61  to  66  hours 

6  "  "  "        67  to  72  hours 

10  "  "  "  73  to  79  hours 

11  "  "  "  80  to  89  hours 

7  "  "  "  90  to  99  hours 
3  "  "  "  over  100  hours. 

These  long  hours  did  not  occur  in  isolated  cases.  In  one 
cannery  on  a  certain  day 

40  women  worked  15     hours 
51       "  "        151/2  " 

27       "  "        16       " 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  155 

The  actual  hours  worked  by  individual  women,  day  after  day 
and  week  after  week,  in  the  height  of  the  rush  season,  disprove 
the  assertion  of  the  canners  that  a  day  or  a  week  of  extraordinary 
length  is  rare. 

Miss  J.  H.  worked: 

Monday 15     hours. 

Tuesday 20         " 

Wednesday 21         " 

Thursday 19         " 

Friday 2iy2     " 

Saturday 21         " 


Total 11Y1/2     " 


For  this  work  the  woman  was  paid  at  the  rate  of  ten  cents  an 
hour.  A  photograph  of  this  woman  and  of  her  time  sheet  will  be 
found  in  Appendix  V  of  the  report. 

The  following  list  shows  the  number  of  hours  that  Mrs.  D. 
worked  in  one  week : 

1912. 

July     7.  Sunday 16      hours. 

8.  Monday 16*4     " 

9.  Tuesday 19^4     " 

10.  Wednesday 19%  " 

11.  Thursday 16  " 

12.  Friday 15i/2  " 

13.  Saturday 17  " 


Total 11934     " 


In  Appendix  V  to  this  report  will  be  found  a  photograph  of 
the  pay  envelope  of  another  woman  in  the  same  cannery  who 
worked  115  hours  in  the  same  week,  for  which  she  received 
$11.50  or  10  cents  an  hour.  This  woman  also  worked  66  hours 
the  following  week. 


156  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

In  another  cannery  during  five  successive  weeks  one  woman 
taken  at  random  from  the  payroll  was  employed  as  follows : 

1st  week  54      hours 

2nd    "  77         " 

3rd     "  85 

4th     "  85i/2     « 

5th     "  601/2     " 


Another  woman  at  the  same  plant : 

1st  week    511/2  hours 

.2nd    "      77         " 

3rd     "      88i/2     « 

4th     "       851/2     " 


The  following  cases  show  the  extreme  overtime  for  successive 
weeks  in  different  canning  factories: 

CASE  A. 

1st   week 88     hours 

2nd     "     94^       " 

3rd      "     62|        " 


CASE  B. 

1st   week 62     hours 

2nd     " 
3rd     " 


CASE  C. 

1st   week 74     hours 

2nd     "     741       " 

3rd     "     105 

4th      "  .    61          " 


In  case  after  case  testimony  was  given  by  the  canners  them- 
selves before  the  Commission,  that  women  work  100,  110,  and 
115  hours  a  week. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  157 

What  do  these  hours  of  labor  mean  to  the  women  who  perform 
them  ?  The  following  passages  from  diaries  of  investigators  who 
worked  in  the  factories  give  the  answer: 

"At  nine  o'clock  last  night,  Nellie complained  that 

she  '  got  tired  sitting  as  well  as  standing.' ': 

"  Another  worker  at  our  table  is  Miss  R ,  a  beautifully 

built  young  woman  of  twenty-four.  This  morning  at  8  she 
complained  of  'aching  everywhere'  she  was  so  tired." 

"I  worked  till  11:45  last  night  with  the  rest.  To-day  the 
heat  was  intense.  Scalding  liquids  from  the  par-boiling  is 
poured  out  at  one  end  of  the  factory  about  12  feet  from  the 
sorting  tables.  This  condition  added  to  fatigue,  made  awful 
inroads  on  the  workers.  Big  strong  young  men  sat  down  with 
heads  in  hands,  waiting  for  the  next  job." 

"  Mrs.  T said  yesterday,  '  This  sleepy  feeling  is  more 

like  pain  than  anything  else.' ': 

"Mrs.  McG said  that  in  1910  after  a  spell  of  night 

work  for  several  nights  till  midnight,  the  women  were  so 
exhausted  they  couldn't  do  anything  more  one  night,  and  a 
whole  batch  of  peas  had  to  be  thrown  out." 

"Coming  home  at  9:30  Friday  night  Mrs.  B com- 
plained that  her  knees  were  shaky  and  she  felt  as  if  she 
would  fall  together  any  moment.  Her  eyes  ached  and  were 
red  from  the  strain." 

" '  I'm  all  in.  I  don't  know  what  I'll  do  if  they  work  us 

like  this  for  another  week.'  Irma  B ,  aged  about  20, 

made  this  statement  twice  to-day." 

"  Many  of  the  women  complained  of  feeling  very  tired  and 
sleepy  this  morning  after  the  long  hours  last  night.  Emma 
C-  —  said  she  had  been  unable  to  sleep." 

"  My  place  was  under  an  electric  light  and  a  portly  matron 
next  to  me  said :  '  Your  eyes  are  better  than  mine,  so  you 
might  change  places.'  I  did  this.  She  complained  of  being 
tired  and  sleepy,  and  a  younger  woman  next  to  her  said  she 
was  '  all  in.'  " 

It  should  be  noted  that  investigators  who  made  these  reports 
in  no  case  worked  in  factories  where  women  worked  over  80  hours 
a  week.  Of  the  fatigue  of  women  who  worked  90  or  100  hours 
per  week,  we  have  no  description. 


158  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

HOUSE  WORK 

Nor  are  the  women  through  with  work  when  they  leave  the 
cannery.  Many  are  housekeepers  and  have  cooking,  sweeping, 
bed-making,  sewing,  and  washing  to  do,  and  often  children  to 
take  care  of  before  and  after  hours  in  the  factories.  Of  941 
women,  671  or  71%  did  housework  before  or  after  their  factory 
work.  These  cares  must  be  added  to  the  wear  of  factory  life  in 
measuring  the  strain  under  which  these  women  live. 

Moreover  when  the  factory  hours  are  long,  the  housework  often 
suffers. 

" Mrs.  McG said  to  one  '  working  investigator :'     'If 

we  have  a  free  Sunday,  I'm  going  to  cook  and  eat  all  day 
long.  I'm  so  starved  for  something  cooked.' ': 

Another  report  is : 

"Mrs.  told  me  she  was  so  tired  and  exhausted  from 

lack  of  sleep  she  had  to  go  home  and  go  to  bed.  She  com- 
mented on  the  lack  of  hot  food  for  herself  and  daughter  since 
work  began.  She  thought  this  lack  added  to  her  fatigued 
condition." 

Although  women  work  extreme  hours  at  certain  times  during 
the  season  these  periods  of  rush  alternate  with  periods  of  slack- 
ened work  during  which  the  hours  are  few  or  the  factory  is  closed 
altogether. 

AVERAGE  HOURS  NO  MEASURE  OF  FATIGUE 

» 

The  plea  of  the  canners  is  that  if  the  average  number  of  hours 
per  day  worked  in  their  factories  during  the  canning  season  be 
taken,  it  is  found  to  be  less  than  the  hours  of  labor  fixed  by 
law.  They  contend  that  the  average  number  of  hours  between 
June  15th  and  October  15th,  even  of  women  who  work  the  long- 
est, generally  falls  below  10  hours  per  day.  They  have  on  this 
ground  repeatedly  sought  an  exemption  from  the  labor  law  to 
allow  them  to  employ  women  on  an  average  of  10  hours  a  day 
during  the  season  of  four  months.  Such  a '  concession,  however, 
would  make  the  provisions  of  the  labor  law  utterly  worthless,  for 
by  this  device  a  factory  packing  only  peas  or  corn  and  operating 
but  a  few  weeks  could  legally  work  women  24  hours  a  day  if 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  159 

it  were  physically  possible,  and  still  the  average  number  of  hours 
from  June  15th  to  October  15th  would  fall  far  below  10  per  day. 
Average  hours  cannot  measure  the  strain  on  the  worker.  Few 
people  believe  that  women  can  work  to  the  limit  of  their  endur- 
ance during  successive  days  or  weeks  and  then  readily  and  fully 
recover  from  such  fatigue  by  working  short  hours  on  the  follow- 
ing weeks. 

THE  NECESSITY  OF  OVERTIME  WORK 

Observations  made  by  investigators  when  employed  as  factory 
workers,  and  their  conversations  with  many  canners  and  official 
inspectors  show  that  most  canners  have  made  but  feeble  attempts 
to  prevent  overtime  work.  They  say  repeatedly,  "  The  Lord 
ripens  the  crops  and  the  situation  is  beyond  men's  control."  In 
this  connection  it  may  be  noted  that  the  men  who  have  been  the 
worst  exploiters  of  women  are  those  who  have  represented  the 
industry  most  frequently  at  Albany  in  its  fight  against  regula- 
tion of  hours  of  women's  labor  in  the  factories. 

The  canners'  plea  that  the  hours  of  women  in  their  industry 
should  not  be  restricted  is  based  on  the  fact  that  they  are  handling 
perishable  p'roducts.  But  several  canners  were  found  to  have 
worked  women  13  and  14  hours  a  day  on  labeling  cans,  after 
the  regular  canning  season  was  over.  If  the  canners  had  really 
tried  to  restrict  hours,  there  would  have  been  no  overtime  on 
labeling,  for  in  that  case  no  perishable  products  were  at  stake. 

Many  canners  have  made  no  effort  to  distribute  the  hours  of 
labor  with  any  degree  of  equality  among  women  in  their  employ. 
On  the  same  day  some  women  were  found  working  in  the  same 
cannery  5  hours  and  others  16  hours.  In  answer  to  this  criti- 
cism they  say :  "  Some  work  requires  particular  skill  and  the 
workers  cannot  be  shifted  promiscuously  from  one  task  to  an- 
other." This  is  more  or  less  true,  but  neither  the  Commission's 
workers  in  the  different  factories  nor  our  official  investigators 
reported  a  single  instance  where  an  effort  was  made  to  prevent 
overtime  by  distributing  work  among  workers  who  were  actually 
employed  on  the  same  work  in  the  same  factory  each  day.  Until 
the  canners  make  such  an  attempt  they  cannot  reasonably  main- 
tain that  they  have  done  all  in  their  power  to  prevent  overtime 
work. 


160  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

Not  all  cauners  have  been  indifferent  to  the  restricting  of  hours 
of  women's  labor,  nor  unwilling  to  consider  a  plan  for  reducing 
them,  although  such  a  course  would  mean  an  increase  in  their 
payrolls.  Certain  canners  have  at  considerable  trouble  and 
expense,  according  to  their  statements,  limited  the  working  hours 
of  women  in  their  factories  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  their  com- 
petitors refused  to  do  so.  There  are  a  few  —  very  few  —  men 
who  have  had  enough  respect  for  the  law,  even  though  they  were 
not  altogether  in  sympathy  with  its  provisions,  to  make  an 
attempt  to  comply  with  it. 

The  ultimate  cause  of  overtime  work  in  the  canneries  is  that 
an  attempt  is  made  to  handle  a  varying  supply  of  raw  material 
with  a  fixed  plant  and  labor  force ;  and  that  during  rush  periods 
the  capacity  of  the  plant  and  labor  force  is  exceeded.  Overtime 
work  necessarily  results. 

A  solution  of  the  overtime  problem  can  be  achieved  either 
by  adjusting  the  supply  of  raw  material  so  as  not  to  exceed, 
under  any  condition,  or  at  any  time,  the  capacity  of  the  plant 
and  labor  force  working  within  legal  hours ;  or  by  increasing 
the  capacity  of  the  plant  and  labor  force  so  that,  under  all  con- 
ditions and  at  all  times,  they  may  be  able  to  handle  the  product 
without  overtime  work.  A  combination  of  the  two  methods  is  of 
course  possible. 

Regulation  of  Planting  and  Harvesting 

There  is  great  disagreement  as  to  the  progress  that  can  be 
made  in  the  way  of  preventing  "  glut  "  periods  by  the  regula- 
tion of  planting  and  harvesting.  Almost  every  pea  canner  can 
cite  instances  where  peas  planted  days,  or  even  a  week  or  two 
weeks  apart,  have  all  matured  on  the  same  day.  In  some  cases 
peas  planted  a  week  after  others  have  matured  first. 

Rain  or  drought,  hot  or  cold  temperature,  conditions  of  the 
soil  and  the  situation  of  the  land  all  tend  to  make  the  period 
from  planting  to  maturity  somewhat  uncertain.  There  are  con- 
ditions, too,  which  make  the  canners'  control  of  planting  difficult. 
Often  several  days  of  rain  so  delay  planting  that  the  canner,  to 
make  up  for  lost  time,  is  tempted  to  plant  a  larger  acreage  per 
day  than  he  might  otherwise  have  done.  Much  of  the  acreage  is 


REPOKT  OF  COMMISSION.  161 

grown  under  contract  with  farmers.  The  products  which  the 
farmers  raise  for  canners  are  often  but  a  small  item  of  their 
total  crop  and  they  are  unwilling  to  put  aside  other  business  to 
follow  the  exact  orders  of  canners. 

It  seems  to  be  true  that  no  canner  can  plant  with  such  scien- 
tific accuracy  as  absolutely  to  prevent  "  gluts."  There  is  always 
the  unknown  quantity,  weather  conditions.  As  one  old  factory 
employee  said  to  an  investigator  who  worked  in  the  factory, 
"  You  can't  change  the  course  of  nature."  This  does  not  excuse 
the  canners,  however,  as  some  of  them  seem  to  think  it  does,  from 
making  every  effort  so  to  control  planting  as  to  prevent  these 
rush  periods  as  far  as  possible.  Most  of  them  hire  "  road  men  " 
to  look  after  planting  and  harvesting  peas,  but  few  hire  them 
for  any  other  crop.  Often  these  men  are  quite  unfitted  for  their 
work. 

The  control  of  planting  calls  for  a  scientific  agriculturist  who 
has  capacity  to  grasp  the  factory  problem  of  keeping  the  work 
within  fixed  hours.  Until  canners  employ  such  men  and  set  to 
work  carefully  to  prevent  gluts  by  regulating  planting  and  har- 
vesting, instead  of  making  half-hearted  efforts  in  that  direction, 
the  extent  to  which  gluts  can  be  minimized  will  not  be  known. 

Cold  Storage 

The  second  possibility  of  adjusting  the  supply  of  raw  material 
to  the  capacity  of  the  plant  is  to  hold  goods  after  harvesting. 
Peas  may  be  held  unshelled  twelve  to  fourteen  hours  under  favor- 
able conditions,  without  serious  deterioration.  Many  canners 
hold  them  overnight,  to  be  able  to  start  the  factory  the  first  thing 
in  the  morning.  No  successful  artificial  means  have  been  used 
as  yet  in  New  York  State  for  preventing  the  rapid  spoiling  of 
peas  after  they  are  cut.  In  Wisconsin,  however,  the  Federal 
Government  investigator  found  in  use  large  tanks  of  running 
water  in  which  shelled  peas  were  immersed  and  held  over  night.* 

It  is  possible  that  such  devices  will  come  into  use  in  New 
York  and  help  to  eliminate  overtime  work  on  peas.  It  is,  how- 
ever, Wisconsin,  not  New  York,  canners  who  have  been  experi- 

*  The  Federal  Government  conducted  an  investigation  into  industrial  con- 
ditions in  the  canning  industry  in  Wisconsin  in  1912. 

11 


162  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

menting  with  these  devices.     Wisconsin's  fifty-five-hour  law  for 
women  applies  to  the  canneries  and  has  been  enforced. 

Replacement  of  Women  by  Men 

Workers  employed  on  the  earlier  processes  finish  their  work 
at  night  and  go  home  before  the  others.  Those  on  the  "  capping 
line,"  the  can  dropper,  those  who  put  on  caps,  the  inspector 
and  the  syrup  maker  are  among  the  last  to  leave,  and  women 
are  often  used  for  these  tasks.  The  time  books  in  many  factories 
show  that  half  a  dozen  or  more  women  work  half  or  three-quar- 
ters of  an  hour  longer  per  day  than  the  others.  These  are  the 
women  "  on  the  line."  Were  these  women  replaced  by  men,  as 
they  might  be  at  a  small  additional  expense,  the  most  extreme 
overtime  would  be  eliminated. 

Two  large  factories,  one  packing  the  largest  number  of  differ- 
ent products  canned  in  any  New  York  State  cannery,  have  been 
operated  under  a  rule  that  women  were  not  to  work  after  9  P.  M. 
This  has  been  strictly  enforced,  and  as  work  has  not  started 
before  7  A.  M.,  the  hours  of  women  have  been  limited  to  12  per 
day  and  72  per  week.  Occasionally  products  have  remained  at 
9  P.  M.  which  would  spoil  if  left  till  morning.  In  these  cases, 
most  of  the  machinery  has  been  shut  down  and  men  who  have 
worked  in  the  factory  during  the  day  have  run  through  the  re- 
maining product.  These  men  are  paid  more  than  l1/^  times  as 
much  as  women,  so  the  payroll  has  been  larger  than  it  would 
have  been  had  women  been  worked  overtime. 

One  of  these  factories  puts  up  22  different  products, —  more 
than  any  other  cannery  in  the  state.  The  second  plant,  which 
never  works  women  after  9  P.  MV  packs  15  different  products, 
which  are  more  than  are  packed  in  the  majority  of  the  canneries. 

Another  large  factory  among  the  first  ten  in  the  state  in  its 
pack  of  peas  and  beans,  has  endeavored  to  obey  the  law  limiting 
working  hours  of  women  to  12  per  day  and  60  per  week.  In 
some  cases  it  has  exceeded  those  hours,  but  during  the  past  two 
seasons  has  never  worked  a  woman  over  13  hours  in  a  day  and 
67  hours  in  a  week.  This  factory  also  has  sent  the  women  home 
when  their  hours  were  up,  and,  shutting  down  most  of  the  ma- 
chinery, has  run  through  what  product  remained  by  using  the 
men  who  work  regularly  in  the  factory. 


KEPOKT  OF  COMMISSION.  163 

Adjustment  of  Acreage  to  Capacity 

One  factory  which,  until  recently,  had  worked  overtime  but 
not  extreme  hours,  and  had  paid  good  profits,  secured  this  year 
a  new  manager  who,  saying  the  factory  was  not  operated  up  to 
its  capacity,  increased  the  acreage.  This  year  the  women  in  the 
factory  worked  much  longer  hours  than  they  worked  in  1910  and 
1911.  The  manager  boasts  that  next  year  he  will  again  increase 
the  pea  acreage  by  100  acres. 

Evidently  extreme  overtime  work  is  due  not  so  much  to  the 
character  of  the  industry  as  to  the  policy  followed  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  business.  The  superintendent  of  one  cannery  which 
works  women  extreme  hours  thus  described  this  policy  to  an 
investigator : 

"  The  way  to  make  money  in  the  canning  business  is  to 
carry  a  little  larger  acreage  than  you  can  handle  comfortably, 
so  that  you  can  run  pretty  steadily  throughout  the  season  and 
your  plant  won't  be  idle  in  slack  periods." 

How  may  overtime  be  eliminated  ?     A  canner's  reply  is  here 

quoted : 

"  In  my  opinion,"  said  the  superintendent  of  a  large  can- 
ning company,  "  the  only  way  that  the  State  can  govern  can- 
ning evils  is  to  make  the  factories  adhere  to  the  rule  of 
supply  and  capacity.  Many  factories  contract  for  an  acreage 
which  the  capacity  of  the  factory  could  not  turn  out,  making 
extra  work  and  harrowing  conditions  for  their  employees 
inevitable.  This  is  the  root  of  the  evil,  to  my  mind." 

Every  vegetable  canner  contracts  in  the  spring  to  purchase  the 
product  of  a  certain  acreage.  He  cannot  tell  at  that  time 
whether  a  full  crop  will  be  returned;  therefore  he  cannot  figure 
on  the  size  of  the  crop.  He  knows,  however,  from  experience 
about  how  many  cases  each  acre  will  yield  when  a  full  crop  is 
returned.  He  knows  exactly  how  many  cases  of  each  crop  his 
factory  is  capable  of  canning  in  any  given  number  of  hours. 
Certain  canners  contract  year  after  year  for  an  acreage  which 
they  must  know  from  repeated  experience  foredooms  their  em- 
ployees to  work  overtime  and,  if  the  crop  is  a  good  one,  extreme 
overtime.  "  The  Lord  ripens  the  crop  "  truly,  but  every  canner 


164  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

determines,  to  a  certain  extent,  how  much  of  a  crop  the  Lord  is 
to  ripen  for  him.  The  relation  between  the  acreage  contracted 
for  and  the  capacity  of  the  plant,  more  than  any  other  thing, 
determines  how  much  overtime  will  have  to  be  worked. 

Some  canners,  when  asked  on  what  basis  they  determined  the 
size  of  the  acreage  they  would  carry,  frankly  testified  that  they 
contracted  for  all  the  acreage  they  could  get  the  farmers  to  grow. 
Canners  usually  sell  from  50  to  100  per  cent,  of  their  goods  the 
winter  before  they  are  packed.*  Some  testified  that  they  sold  all 
the  goods  they  could,  and  then  contracted  for  an  acreage  to  meet 
the  sales. 

REASONABLE  HOURS  IN  SOME  FACTORIES 

The  time  records  of  canning  factories  show  that  the  situation 
is  not  beyond  the  canners'  control.  A  few  factories  have  kept 
reasonable  hours  although  others  packing  the  same  products  have 
worked  extremely  long  hours. 

Factories  which  keep  more  reasonable  hours  have  done  so  year 
after  year,  and  on  the  other  hand  those  which  require  extreme 
hours  persist  in  that  habitual  practice. 

Two  companies  operated  6  of  the  13  factories  which  worked 
women  over  18  hours  on  their  longest  day,  and  5  of  the  12  fac- 
tories which  worked  women  over  90  hours  in  their  longest  week. 
One  of  these  companies,  which  operated  factories  from  one  end 
of  the  cannery  region  to  the  other,  worked  women  extreme  hours 
in  all  of  them,  regardless  of  local  conditions. 

WAGES  AND  RESTRICTION  OF  HOURS 

Canners  stated  that  one  cause  of  overtime  work  was  the  diffi- 
culty they  experienced  in  getting  sufficient  help.  In  spite  of  this 
difficulty  the  wages  of  both  men  and  women  in  the  industry  are 
very  low.  One  factory  pays  women  as  little  as  seven  cents  an 
hour.  The  supply  of  labor  depends  upon  the  wages  paid.  In 
cannery  towns  as  elsewhere  a  high  wage  attracts  many  workers, 
a  low  wage  attracts  few.  The  wages  of  women  in  the  canning 
industry  is  lower  than  in  other  industries  in  which  large  num- 

*  There  is  usually  a  clause  In  the  contract  which  makes  it  unnecessary  for 
the  canner  to  deliver  in  full  if  short  crops  prevent  the  packing  of  the  amount 
of  goods  expected. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  165 

bers  of  women  are  employed.  Until  women  are  paid  more  than 
seven  or  ten  cents  an  hour  for  seasonable  and  intermittent  work 
no  canner  can  claim  to  have  exhausted  his  labor  supply. 

The  wages  of  men  average  $1.77  for  a  ten-hour  day,  but  the 
wages  of  women  average  less  than  a  dollar  for  the  same  time. 
The  average  pay  per  day  for  the  canning  season  amounts,  how- 
ever, to  much  less,  because  of  irregularity  of  work.  This  is  true, 
in  spite  of  the  long  hours  of  labor  in  some  weeks. 

At  many  tasks  women  are  paid  for  the  amount  of  work  they 
turn  out.  Snipping  beans,  husking  corn,  peeling  tomatoes,  pears, 
peaches  and  beets,  hulling  strawberries,  quartering  and  coring 
apples,  stemming  cherries,  and  labelling  cans,  are  sometimes  paid 
for  by  the  piece.  The  rates  vary  from  factory  to  factory,  just 
as  wages  by  the  hour. 

The  average  weekly  earnings  of  cannery  women  are  $4.53. 
No  woman  could  maintain  a  decent  standard  of  living,  even  were 
she  able  to  have  steady  work  the  year  round  on  such  a  wage. 
Room  and  board  may  be  secured  in  the  cannery  towns  for  $3  to 
$5  a  week.  One  of  the  "  working  investigators  "  secured  them 
at  $3  and  reported  that  the  food  was  so  scant  and  poorly  pre- 
pared that  she  could  hardly  live  on  it.  But  even  if  room  and 
board  are  secured  for  that  amount,  it  is  obvious  that  there  is  little 
left  for  clothing,  to  say  nothing  of  other  necessary  expenses. 
Clearly  the  industry  may  be  considered  parasitic  in  the  sense  that 
a  woman  working  in  it  cannot  make  a  living  wage,  but  must  find 
other  means  of  support.  True,  many  of  the  workers  have  fathers, 
husbands,  and  brothers  able  to  help  them,  but  the  unmarried  girl 
trying  to  make  a  living  out  of  this  work  finds  it  hard.  This  fact 
does  not  pass  unnoticed.  The  report  follows  of  a  young  woman 
investigator  who  worked  in  the  factories: 

"  There  are  several  very  ( fresh '  bosses  at  the  factory  and 
the  youth  who  keeps  time  and  has  charge  of  the  sorting 
tables  has  a  good  deal  of  influence  over  the  girls  he  puts  at 
the  tables.  The  situation  is  much  like  that  in  a  department 
store  where  the  floor-walker  has  a  lot  of  girls  under  him 
receiving  low  wages  and  all  more  or  less  at  his  mercy.  Only 
up  here  night  work  makes  the  situation  even  more 
dangerous." 


166  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

A  few  days  later  she  reported  again: 

"I  find  that  the  time-keeper  who  was  objectionable  to  me 
the  other  day  has  been  insulting  several  girls.  He  said  to 
me,  'You  can't  make  enough  to  pay  you,  but  I  will  give 
you  a  chance  to  make  2  or  3  dollars  on  the  side  any  time. 
If  you  come  up  here  to  work  at  night,  we  can  go  for  a  stroll.' 
I  feel  that  this  ought  to  be  repeated  to  you  by  me  to  show 
what  the  effect  of  an  8-cent  wage  is  in  the  canning  industry." 

The  time-keeper  of  this  factory  was  the  superintendent's 
cousin,  using  the  low  wage  as  an  inducement  to  immorality. 

Nor  is  this  the  only  effect  of  the  low  wage.  We  have  seen 
that  in  some  cases  children  are  routed  out  of  bed  at  4  A.  M.  and 
forced  to  work  until  late  at  night,  not  by  the  canners,  but  by 
their  parents.  The  canners  supply  the  materials  to  work  on, 
the  parents  do  the  driving.  Clearly  this  is  not  alone  due  to  the 
hard-heartedness  of  the  parent.  It  is  the  necessary  and  logical 
outcome  of  a  wage  of  $4.53  a  week  for  women  workers,  and  a 
correspondingly  low  wage  for  men.  Yet  certain  canners  argue 
that  children  should  be  allowed  to  work  because  of  the  poverty 
of  the  parents. 

The  willingness  of  the  women  to  work  long  hours  is  also  the 
logical  outcome  of  so  low  a  wage.  One  woman  in  90  hours'  work 
was  able  to  make  only  $6.75.  A  canner  argues  against  restrict- 
ing women's  hours  by  saying,  "  The  longer  the  day  the  better, 
because  then  the  more  money  can  be  made."*  Of  course  the 
women  want  to  work  long  hours.  They  must  do  so  to  make 
anywhere  near  a  living  wage. 

That  is  not  saying,  however,  that  a  restriction  of  hours  will 
lower  their  wages.  One  "  working  investigator  "  reported : 

"I  believe  that  were  the  54-hour  law  enforced  here  the 
wage  would  have  to  be  increased  from  8  cents  because  the 
girls  would  leave  rather  than  work  for  72  cents  in  a  9-hour 
day.  I  have  talked  with  many  girls  about  the  new  54-hour 
law  and  they  all  say,  (  Believe  me,  if  I've  got  to  work  here 
for  72  cents  a  day  I  ain't  staying  long.' ': 

Were  the  hours  restricted,  the  canners,  to  keep  their  help, 
would  have  to  raise  the  wages. 

*  See  letter  to  "  New  York  Sun,  Dec.  3,  1912,  by  a  canning  factory 
'  Director.'  " 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  167 

The  "  working  investigator  "  also  makes  the  following  inter- 
esting report : 

"All  the  Italian  girls  are  sore  at  the  low  wage,  but  are 
afraid  to  quit  on  account  of  the  Poles  and  the  Americans. 
They  would  like  to  strike  but  say  that  these  would  take  their 
places.  The  Syrians  and  the  Poles  are  willing  to  accept  the 
8-cent  wage.  The  Americans  say  it  is  too  low  and  grumble, 
but  would  stick  by  the  American  employer  rather  than  join 
the  '  Eyetalians  '  in  a  strike." 

SUMMARY  OF  FINDINGS 

The  following  is  a  summary  of  the  Commission's  findings  on 
the  conditions  of  women's  work  in  the  canneries  of  the  state : 

I.     Nature  of  Work 

1.  That  work  in  canneries  is  not  easy  out-of-door  work  akin 
to  agricultural  labor,  but  is  distinctly  factory  work. 

2.  That   most  of  the  occupations  for  which  women   are  em- 
ployed subject  them  to  the  same  hardships   as  those  found  in 
other  factories. 

3.  That  much  of  the  work  is   done  at  high  speed  paced  by 
machines,  or  speeded  by  piece  work  at  low  wages. 

4.  That  the  constant  noise  of  machinery  close  to  the  women 
workers  entails  nervous  strain. 

5.  That  many  women  stand  at  their  work  all  day  long. 

6.  That  a  number  of  occupations  involve  eye  strain. 

T.  That  many  women  are  compelled  to  stand  on  wet  floors 
all  day,  and  in  some  cases  are  wet  to  the  skin.  Shed  workers  are 
exposed  to  rain  and  cold. 

8.  That  women  suffer  in  health  from  long  and  irregular  hours, 
from  the  loss  of  proper  rest  at  night  and  on  Sunday,  and  from 
irregular  meal  hours. 

9.  That  the  harmful  effects   of   excessive  work  in  long   con- 
tinued rush  periods  cannot  be  counter-balanced  by  rest  in  slack 
seasons. 


168  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

//.    Hours  of  Labor 

1.  That  women  are  constantly  employed  for  excessively  long 
hours. 

2.  That  overtime  work  is  not  occasional  but  is  often  continu- 
ous for  many  successive  weeks. 

3.  That  the  season  in  which  overtime  occurs  is  not  short  but 
often  lasts  for  five  months. 

4.  That  women  work  frequently  15  and  16  hours  a  day,  and 
that  it  is  not  uncommon  for  them  to  work  70  hours  a  week  con- 
tinuously for  many  weeks.      One  woman   worked  119  3-4  in  a 
week  in  1912. 

5.  'The  days  of  rest  do  not  as  a  rule  follow  days  of  excessive 
labor. 

6.  That  many  canners  have  made  no  intelligent  effort  to  pre- 
vent women  from  working  overtime  by  equalizing  daily  working 
hours  for  each  employee,  since   one  woman  may  be  employed 
long  hours  on  consecutive  days  while  other  women  in  the  same 
plant  work  short  hours  or  not  at  all. 

7.  That  although  women  are  rarely  compelled  to  work  over- 
time, their  conpensation  is,  as  a  rule,  so  low  that  there  is  every 
incentive  to  work  long  hours. 

8.  That  long  hours  of  labor  are  often  not  related  to  the  alleged 
perishable  nature  of  the  crops,  since  such  work  as  the  labeling 
of  cans  is  done  at  night. 

777.    Labor  Supply 

That  the  canners'  labor  supply  is  not  so  limited  as  to  neces- 
sitate excessive  hours  of  labor  for  the  available  workers. 

IV.     Canners'  Failure  to  Prevent  Oversupply  of  Raw  Materials 

1.  That   few  canners   systematically  attempt  to  regulate   the 
planting  and  harvesting  of  the  crops  and  the  time  of  their  delivery 
at  the  cannery. 

2.  That    the    canners    have    not    sufficiently    encouraged    the 
growth   of    different   varieties    of   crops,    nor    controlled   closely 
enough   different   times    of   planting    in    order   to    lengthen    the 
season. 


REPOKT  OF  COMMISSION.  169 

3.  That  products  are  often  not  properly  cared  for  at  the  can- 
neries so  that  they  may  be  held,  if  necessary,  for  short  periods 
before  canning. 

4.  That  output  is  often  not  adjusted  to  capacity  of  plant,  based 
on  its  present  labor  supply,  and  that  overproduction  is  therefore 
chiefly  responsible  for  excessive  overtime  work. 

LAWS  IN  OTHER  STATES 

In  Illinois  the  hours  of  labor  of  women  in  the  canneries  are 
limited  to  ten  hours  a  day ;  in  Tennessee,  to  60  hours  a  week ;  in 
Pennsylvania,  to  12  hours  a  day  or  60  a  week,  and  in  Wisconsin, 
to  10  hours  a  day  and  not  more  than  55  hours  a  week.  In  Michi- 
gan and  in  California,  two  of  the  leading  cannery  states,  in  which 
no  restrictions  as  to  hours  exist,  the  movement  to  limit  the  hours 
of  labor  of  women  in  canneries  has  become  widespread  and  the 
industry  in  this  respect  will  in  all  probability  be  regulated  very 
shortly  by  the  legislatures  of  those  states. 

SUMMARY 

• 

Up  to  1911  the  law  limiting  the  hours  of  labor  of  women  in 
factories  to  60  hours  a  week  applied  to  canneries,  but  was  never 
obeyed.  Practically  no  attempt  was  made  to  enforce  it  and  when- 
ever, at  rare  intervals,  such  an  attempt  was  made  it  was  success- 
fully opposed  or  evaded. 

In  1912  the  Legislature,  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  more 
adequate  protection  for  women  working  in  factories,  passed  the 
54-hour  law.  This  law  prohibited  the  employment  of  women  in 
factories  for  more  than  nine  hours  in  any  one  day  or  54  hours  in 
any  one  week.  At  the  same  time,  however,  the  canneries  of  the 
state  were  exempted  from  the  operation  of  the  provisions  of  the 
law  relating  to  the  hours  of  labor  of  women  during  the  canning 
season  between  the  fifteenth  day  of  June  and  the  fifteenth  day  of 
October  in  every  year.  The  canning  industry  thus  became  legally 
what  it  had  been  for  many  years  past  illegally,  an  entirely  un- 
regulated industry. 

The  fifty-four  hour  law  went  into  effect  on  the  first  of  October, 
1912,  so  that  the  7,000  women  working  in  the  canning  factories 
of  the  state  have  no  protection  during  the  next  canning  season  so 


170  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

far  as  the  length  of  their  working  day  is  concerned.  There  is  no 
limitation,  except  that  which  is  imposed  by  nature  itself,  on  the 
number  of  hours  that  a  woman  may  be  employed  in  any  one  day 
or  in  any  one  week. 

The  investigation  that  we  have  made  has  convinced  us  that  the 
plea  of  the  canners  that  this  wide  open  exemption  is  necessary 
because  of  the  peculiar  conditions  in  their  industry,  is  entirely 
without  foundation.  We  believe,  moreover,  that  this  exemption 
is  a  most  improper  one,  is  directly  opposed  to  the  best  interests 
of  the  state,  and  has  been  granted  because  of  a  misapprehension 
of  the  true  conditions  which  exist  in  the  canning  industry. 

Work  by  women  in  canneries  is  distinctly  factory  work.  The 
physical  and  nervous  strain  on  the  workers  is  just  as  great  in  a 
cannery  as  it  is  in  any  other  factory. 

The  canning  industry  is  a  seasonable  industry.  During  certain 
times  of  the  year  the  goods  handled  are  extremely  perishable. 
Crops  must  be  harvested,  vegetables  prepared  and  canned  without 
delay.  The  industry  is  subject  to  rush  and  slack  periods  — 
periods  when  the  hours  are  many  and  periods  when  the  hours  are 
few  - —  alternating  through  the  season.  These  conditions  distin- 
guish the  canning  industry  from  practically  every  other. 

The  conditions  in  the  canning  industry  are  not  such  as  require 
the  labor  of  women  for  110,  115  and  119  hours  a  week.  No  words 
of  ours  can  express  too  strongly  our  condemnation  of  the  inhuman 
greed  and  avarice  that  permit  women  to  be  thus  exploited. 

We  do  not  believe,  however,  that  the  54-hour  law  should  apply 
to  the  canneries  during  the  canning  season.  That  would  be  un- 
fair and  unreasonable  to  the  industry  and  to  the  workers  to  which 
it  gives  employment.  A  wide-open  exemption  during  this  period 
is  even  more  unfair  and  unreasonable.  We  do  not  claim  that  in 
the  present  state  of  our  knowledge,  overtime  can  be  entirely 
eliminated  in  this  industry,  but  we  are  certain  that  a  proper  and 
careful  attention  to  the  regulation  of  the  planting  and  harvesting 
of  crops,  to  the  distribution  of  labor  within  the  factory,  to  the 
possibilities  of  cold  storage,  to  the  obtaining  of  an  increased  labor 
supply  by  offering  to  the  workers  a  living  wage,  and  to  the  adjust- 
ment of  acreage  to  the  capacity  of  the  plant,  would  reduce  over- 
time in  this  industry  to  a  minimum,  and  would  do  away  entirely 


REPOKT  OF  COMMISSION.  171 

with  the  excessively  long  hours  of  labor  of  women  for  which  the 
canners  of  this  state  deserve  the  censure  and  criticism  to  which 
they  have  been  subjected. 

The  state  cannot  regard  with  indifference  any  system  per- 
mitting women  to  work  excessively  long  hours  of  labor.  Even  if 
this  extreme  overtime  lasts  only  a  few  weeks,  we  believe  it  to  be 
injurious  to  the  health  of  women  engaged  therein.  The  estimate 
of  the  average  number  of  hours  worked  per  day  by  a  woman  does 
not  constitute  a  fair  test  of  reasonableness  for  this  exemption  of 
the  canning  industry  from  the  factory  law. 

Few  people  will  claim  that  a  woman  can  recover  from  the 
fatigue  of  working  fifteen  hours  a  day  for  several  weeks  in  suc- 
cession by  thereafter  working  only  five  hours  a  day.  Average 
hours  do  not  measure  the  strain  on  the  worker.  We  recommend 
therefore  that  during  the  canning  season,  between  the  15th  day 
of  June  and  the  15th  day  of  October,  the  hours  of  labor  of  women 
should  be  limited  to  10  hours  a  day  and  60  hours  a  week.  During 
the  pea  crop  season,  which  extends  from  the  25th  of  June  to  the 
5th  of  August,  when  the  perishability  of  the  product  handled  is 
extreme  and  the  rush  of  work  is  very  great,  the  Industrial  Board 
on  application  of  any  canner  may  permit  women  in  his  establish- 
ment to  work  for  not  more  than  12  hours  in  any  one  day  and  66 
hours  in  any  one  week  if  in  the  opinion  of  the  Industrial  Board 
such  increased  number  of  hours  may  be  allowed  without  endan- 
gering the  health  of  the  women  workers.  This  same  principle 
has  been  adopted  in  England.  There  the  Home  Ofiice  has  granted 
the  canners  the  exemption  allowed  by  law,  but  has  accompanied 
the  grant  with  special  requirements  which  make  it  necessary  for 
the  canner,  if  he  is  to  enjoy  the  right  to  work  women  longer  hours 
than  they  are  worked  in  other  factories,  to  maintain  unusually 
good  sanitary  conditions  in  his  factory. 

We  believe  that  these  limitations  on  the  hours  of  labor  of  women 
in  the  canning  industry  are  entirely  fair  to  the  industry  and  are 
calculated  to  protect  the  health  and  safety  of  the  women  employed 
therein. 

This  restriction  on  the  hours  of  labor  of  women  will  stimulate 
the  canners  to  more  scientific  management  so  that  the  necessity 
for  overtime  may  be  largely  eliminated.  Increased  efficiency  has 


172  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

always  and  everywhere  resulted  from  improved  labor  conditions. 
Probably  few  industries  reward  good  management  and  penalize 
bad  management  more  than  the  canning  industry.  It  needs  care- 
ful estimating  in  advance  of  the  season  and  a  cool  head  under 
trying  conditions  when  the  rush  periods  occur. 

It  has  been  urged  that  if  the  hours  of  labor  were  reduced  the 
women  employed  in  the  canneries  would  be  deprived  of  a  liveli- 
hood. But  we  do  not  believe  this  to  be  so.  No  woman  works  10, 
12,  15,  or  20  hours  a  day  for  pleasure.  She  does  it  for  money. 
The  lower  the  wages  the  greater  is  the  incentive  to  long  hours  of 
labor.  The  very  low  wages  paid  in  the  canning  industry  largely 
explain  the  desire  of  the  women  to  work  long  hours.  It  has  been 
the  experience  all  over  the  world  that  low  wages  and  long  hours  go 
together  hand  in  hand ;  that  the  lowest  paid  industries  are  the 
industries  in  which  the  longest  hours  of  labor  prevail.  A  reduc- 
tion in  the  hours  of  labor  in  this  industry  will  soon  result  in  a 
compensating  increase  in  the  wages  of  the  women  workers,  which 
we  believe  the  industry  can  well  afford. 

The  interests  of  the  state  demand  that  extreme  overtime  by 
women  be  prohibited  and  that  women  workers  be  surrounded  with 
every  protection  and  safeguard  to  enable  them  to  perpetuate  a 
race  of  strong,  sturdy  citizens.  There  are  no  words  that  express 
the  necessity  for  such  protection  more  clearly  and  forcibly  than 
those  used  by  Mr.  Justice  Brewer  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court  in  the  case  of  Muller  v.  Oregon,  reported  in  208  U.  S.,  412 : 

"  *  *  *  her  physical  structure  and  a  proper  discharge 
of  her  maternal  functions  —  having  in  view  not  merely  her 
own  health,  but  the  well-being  of  the  race  —  justify  legisla- 
tion to  protect  her  from  the  greed  as  well  as  the  passion  of 
man.  The  limitations  which  this  statute  places  upon  her 
contractual  powers,  upon  her  right  to  agree  with  her  employer 
as  to  the  time  she  shall  labor,  are  not  imposed  solely  for 
her  benefit,  but  also  largely  for  the  benefit  of  all.  Many 
words  cannot  make  this  plainer.  The  two  sexes  differ  in 
structure  of  body,  in  the  functions  to  be  performed  by  each, 
in  the  amount  of  physical  strength,  in  the  capacity  for  long- 
continued  labor,  particularly  when  done  standing,  the  influ- 
ence of  vigorous  health  upon  the  future  well-being  of  the 
race,  the  self-reliance  which  enables  one  to  assert  full  rights, 
and  in  the  capacity  to  maintain  the  struggle  for  subsistence." 


KEPOKT  OF  COMMISSION.  1Y3 

i'urthermore,  in  January,  1913,  in  the  case  of  People  v.  Kane 
(New  York  Law  Journal,  January  30,  1913),  Mr.  Justice  Black- 
mar,  sitting  at  Special  Term  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  Second 
Judicial  District,  in  sustaining  the  constitutionality  of  the  54- 
hour  law  for  women  in  factories,  passed  at  the  last  session  of  the 
Legislature,  said: 

"An  act  of  the  Legislature  in  the  interest  of  the  health, 
morals  or  safety  of  the  community  operates  within  the  field 
of  the  surrendered  rights  and  does  not  abridge  civil  liberty. 
*  *  *  The  development  of  the  industrial  life  of  the 
nation,  the  pressure  of  women  and  children  entering  the 
industrial  field  in  competition  with  men  physically  better 
qualified  for  the  struggle,  has  compelled  them  to  submit  to 
conditions  and  terms  of  service  which  it  cannot  be  presumed 
they  would  freely  choose.  Their  liberty  to  contract  to  sell 
their  labor  may  be  but  another  name  for  involuntary  service 
created  by  existing  industrial  conditions.  A  law  which 
restrains  the  liberty  to  contract  may  tend  to  emancipate  them 
by  enabling  them  to  act  as  they  choose  and  not  as  competi- 
tive conditions  compel.  All  these  considerations  are  for  the 
Legislature,  and  for  the  Legislature  alone." 

RECOMMENDATIONS 

"We  therefore  recommend  that  the  following  provision  be 
adopted  exempting  the  canneries  from  the  operation  of  the  fifty- 
four  hour  law  for  women  (Subdivision  3  of  §  77)  : 

3.  A  female  eighteen  years  of  age  and  upwards  may,  not- 
withstanding the  provisions  of  subdivision  three  of  section 
seventy-seven  of  this  chapter,,  be  employed  in  canning  or 
preserving  perishable  products  in  fruit  and  canning  establish- 
ments between  the  fifteenth  day  of  June  and  the  fifteenth 
day  of  October  in  each  year  not  more  than  six  days  or  sixty 
hours  in  any  one  week  nor  more  than  ten  hours  in  any  one 
day ;  and  the  industrial  board  shall  have  power  to  adopt  rules 
and  regulations  permitting  the  employment  of  women  eigh- 
teen years  of  age  and  upwards  on  such  work  in  such  estab- 
lishments between  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  June  and  the  fifth 
day  of  August  in  each  year  not  more  than  six  days  or  sixty- 
six  hours  in  any  one  week  or  more  than  twelve  hours  in  any 


174  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

one  day,  if  said  board  shall  find  that  such  employment  is 
required  by  the  needs  of  such  industry  and  can  be  permitted 
without  serious  injury  to  the  health  of  women  so  employed.* 

This  act  is  to  apply  to  all  parts  of  the  canning  establishments, 
including  the  canning  sheds. 

SPECIAL  INSPECTION  OF  CANNERIES 

We  have  no  fear  that  the  measures  we  recommend  for  the 
hours  of  labor  of  women  in  the  canneries  will  be  impossible  of 
enforcement.  We  believe  that  our  recommendations  are  fair 
to  the  industry  and  that  if  enacted  into  law  will  be  observed. 
We  do  not  believe  that  since  conditions  have  been  fully  disclosed, 
any  local  court  or  jury  will  lightly  disregard  the  laws  the  legis- 
lature will  enact.  Public  sentiment  all  over  the  state  will  de- 
mand that  such  laws  be  enforced  promptly  and  effectively. 

To  secure  such  enforcement  we  recommend  that  during  the 
canning  season  a  special  squad  of  inspectors  be  organized  in  the 
Department  of  Labor,  to  investigate  conditions  in  the  canneries, 
with  special  regard  to  the  employment  of  women  and  children 
and  to  their  hours  of  labor. 

A  few  prosecutions  promptly  instituted  and  vigorously  pushed 
to  a  successful  termination  will  quickly  dispel  from  the  minds  of 
the  recalcitrant  few  the  idea  that  laws  regulating  the  employ- 
ment of  women  and  children  in  canneries  are  "  dead  letters  " 
and  need  not  be  obeyed. 

The  present  system  of  inspecting  a  cannery  once  a  year  can 
hardly  be  productive  of  results.  One  of  our  investigators  visited 
a  canning  factory  that  had  been  in  operation  for  six  years  and 
had  never  been  officially  inspected.  Another  small  cannery  was 
inspected  which  had  operated  for  ten  years  without  a  visit  from 
the  factory  inspector. 

It  is  small  wonder  that  under  these  circumstances  the  labor 
law  should  have  been  so  lightly  regarded  in  the  cannery  regions. 

SANITARY  CONDITIONS 

To  the  credit  of  the  canning  industry  of  this  state  it  must 
be  said  that  sanitary  conditions  in  the  canning  processes  are  usu- 

*  Bill    10,    Appendix    I. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  175 

ally  excellent.  Most  canners  take  every  reasonable  precaution 
to  guard  their  products  from  contamination.  The  pure  food 
law  provisions  against  the  use  of  artificial  preservatives  make  it 
impossible  to  can  products  that  have  begun  to  decay. 

Two  conditions  however  that  affect  the  workers  in  several 
canneries  should  be  noted,  namely,  inadequate  washing  facilities 
and  uncleanliness  of  water  closet  accommodations.  There  can  be 
no  excuse  of  such  conditions  in  any  cannery  and  they  should  be 
promptly  corrected. 

HOUSING  CONDITIONS 

When  foreigners  are  brought  from  different  cities  to  be 
employed  in  rural  canning  factories,  housing  facilities  are  pro- 
vided for  them  by  the  canners.  Usually  no  rent  is  charged  for 
these  living  quarters,  though  sometimes  a  very  nominal  sum 
is  paid  by  the  workers. 

The  types  of  buildings  found  in  use  were  tenement-buildings 
in  which  three  or  more  families  keep  house  independently, 
barracks-buildings  in  which  three  or  more  families  live  with  a 
common  cooking  place,  and  shacks,  separate  houses  in  which  not 
more  than  two  families  are  housed. 

These  tenements,  barracks  and  shacks  are  often  overcrowded, 
no  provision  is  made  for  the  separation  of  the  sexes,  there  is  no 
proper  privacy  and  they  are  kept  in  a  decidedly  unsanitary 
condition. 

At  present  the  labor  department  has  no  jurisdiction  over  con- 
ditions in  these  labor  camps  and  the  local  health  department  pays 
little  if  any  attention  to  them.  We  recommend  that  the  labor 
department  be  given  jurisdiction  over  the  conditions  in  labor 
camps  attached  to  factories  in  the  state,  including  those  main- 
tained in  connection  with  canneries,  and  that  certain  minimum 
requirements  as  to  sanitary  conditions  in  such  camps,  and  the 
healthfulness  of  their  surroundings  be  incorporated  in  the  labor 
law  or  the  Industrial  Code.* 

*  Bill   No.    11,    Appendix  I. 


176  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 


V. 

CHILD  LABOR 

Two  of  the  greatest  evils  of  child  labor  in  this  state,  namely, 
the  employment  of  young  children  in  cannery  sheds  and  in  tene- 
ment houses,  have  already  been  discussed  under  Manufacturing 
in  Tenements  and  The  Canneries.  This  section  of  the  report, 
therefore,  will  be  confined  to  the  subject  of  the  employment  and 
necessary  protection  of  children  in  factories. 

In  this  matter  the  state  has  a  vital  concern,  for  there  are  now 
employed  in  its  factories  nearly  14,000  children  between  the 
ages  of  fourteen  and  sixteen  years.  There  can  be  no  question 
that  these  children  should  be  so  guarded  and  protected  by  the 
state  that  they  may  grow  up  into  strong  and  efficient  men  and 
women. 

Under  the  present  law  no  child  under  fourteen  years  of  age 
is  permitted  to  work  in  a  factory;  and  no  child  between  four- 
teen and  sixteen  years  is  permitted  to  be  employed  in  a  factory 
unless  an  employment  certificate  is  obtained  and  filed  in  the 
office  of  the  employer  at  the  place  of  the  employment  of  the  child. 
This  certificate  is  granted  if  the  child  satisfies  the  requirements 
as  to  age,  physical  condition,  and  education. 

THE  PHYSICAL  REQUIREMENTS 

Before  1912  that  portion  of  the  law  requiring  a  physical 
examination  of  the  child  before  a  working  certificate  was  issued, 
provided  for  such  examination  only  in  doubtful  cases.  As  a 
result  the  Commission  found  many  sickly  children  working  in 
the  factories  of  the  state. 

The  commission  therefore  recommended  that  the  law  should 
be  so  amended  that  the  physical  fitness  of  every  child  applying 
for  an  employment  certificate  must  be  determined  by  a  medical 
officer  of  the  local  department  or  board  of  health.  That  physician 
was  to  make  a  thorough  physical  examination  of  the  child,  to 
record  the  result  of  this  examination  on  a  blank  to  be  furnished 
for  the  purpose  by  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  and  there  to  set 
forth  such  facts  concerning  the  physical  condition  and  history 


REPORT  OP  COMMISSION.  177 

of  the  child  as  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  might  require.  The 
local  health  department  or  officer  was  also  required  to  transmit  to 
the  state  department  of  labor  a  duplicate  record  of  the  physicial 
examination  of  all  those  children  to  whom  employment  certifi- 
cates were  issued. 

This  law  became  effective  on  October  1st,  1912.  Health  officers 
throughout  the  state  are  of  the  opinion  that  much  good  will  be 
accomplished  by  it.  The  percentage  of  rejections  for  physical 
unfitness  has  already  increased  largely  since  the  law  became 
operative.  No  longer  will  weak,  puny,  and  sickly  children  be 
permitted  to  engage  in  work  that  over-taxes  their  strength  and 
so  weakens  them  as  to  render  them  easy  victims  to  the  many 
diseases  that  find  their  prey  among  factory  workers.  The  proper 
enforcement  of  this  law  by  excluding  from  factory  work  all 
young  children  whose  family  history  shows  a  predisposition  to 
tuberculosis,  should  also  play  an  effective  part  in  the  war  that 
is  now  being  waged  for  the  eradication  of  that  disease. 

Although  much  has  been  accomplished  by  the  foregoing  amend- 
ment, it  is  the  opinion  of  the  Commission  that  the  requirement 
for  the  physical  examination  of  children  should  be  still  further 
strengthened  in  these  two  particulars. 

1.  It  should  be  made  to  apply  to  mercantile  establishments 
as  well  as  to  factories. 

2.  The  local  health  department  or  officer  should  be  required 
to  transmit  to  the  Department  of  Labor  duplicate  records  of  the 
physical  examinations  of  children  whose  applications  for  working 
certificates  are  denied  because  of  physical  unfitness.     This  record 
would  be  of  great  value  for  statistical  purposes  and  should  result 
in  directing  attention  to  physical  ailments  of  children  seeking 
to  work  in  factories  and  stores.* 

THE  EDUCATIONAL  REQUIREMENT 

Testimony  has  been  presented  showing  the  meagerness  of  the 
educational  requirements  of  our  present  law.  The  statutes  pro- 
vide that  a  child  under  sixteen  years  of  age  who  desires  to  leave 
school  to  work  must  be  able  to  read  and  write  simple  sentences 

*  Bill   13,  Appendix  I. 

12 


178  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

in  the  English  language,  must  have  received  instruction  in  read- 
ing, spelling,  writing,  English  grammar,  and  geography,  and 
must  be  familiar  with  the  fundamental  operations  of  arithmetic 
up  to  and  including  fractions. 

According  to  statements  made  to  the  Commission  this  pro- 
vision is  variously  construed  throughout  the  state  because  of  the 
lack  of  any  definite  standard  in  matters  of  school  grading.  It 
is  left  to  each  local  school  authority  to  determine  at  just  what 
point  in  the  school  curriculum  a  child  has  fulfilled  the  require- 
ments of  the  law. 

In  view  of  this  condition  it  has  been  urged  that  great  good 
would  come  from  the  establishment  of  a  uniform  and  state  wide 
standard.  This  practice  has  been  adopted  in  Ohio,  Wisconsin, 
Minnesota,  and  other  states,  and  has  been  found  very  satisfactory. 
The  standard  proposed  for  this  state  is  the  completion  of  the 
work  of  the  first  six  years  of  the  public  elementary  school  or 
school  equivalent  thereto,  or  of  the  parochial  school.  Children 
who  begin  school  at  seven  years  of  age  and  are  promoted  at  the 
normal  rate,  complete  the  sixth  year  of  regular  school  work  be- 
tween their  twelfth  and  thirteenth  birthdays.  Thus,  if  this 
standard  were  to  be  adopted  for  a  fourteen-year-old  child,  the 
state  would  be  requiring  only  what  is  being  regularly  accom- 
plished by  thousands  of  children  two  years  under  that  age.  Sev- 
eral cities  in  our  state  already  interpret  the  law  as  requiring  this 
standard. 

A  further  argument  in  favor  of  the  prolongation  of  school 
life  for  children  is  the  reduction  in  juvenile  delinquency  which 
this  extension  may  be  expected  to  bring  about.  The  recent 
investigation  of  the  federal  government  into  conditions  surround- 
ing wage  earners  in  the  United  States  included  a  special  study 
of  the  relation  between  working  children  and  juvenile  delin- 
quency. One  chapter  of  this  report  concludes  with  the  following 
statement : 

"  Summing  up  the  results  of  the  discussion  to  this  point, 
it  is  found  that  the  working  children  contribute  to  the  ranks 
of  delinquency  a  slightly  larger  number  and  a  much  larger 
proportion  than  do  the  non-workers,  that  this  excess  appears 
in  offenses  of  every  kind,  whether  trivial  or  serious,  and 


KEPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  179 

among   recidivists  even   more   markedly   than    among    first 
offenders." 

When  one  realizes  that  attendance  upon  our  elementary  schools 
constitutes  all  the  education  that  the  majority  of  our  wage  earners 
receive,  the  Commission  believes  that  the  minimum  of  six 
years  —  of  the  eight  years  of  work  which  these  schools  offer  —  is 
not  too  high  a  standard  for  the  state  of  !N^ew  York. 

Accordingly,  amendments  to  the  labor  law  and  to  the  com- 
pulsory education  law  are  recommended  to  accomplish  this  object. 
It  is  suggested  also  that  the  date  when  these  changes  are  to  be- 
come effective  shall  be  deferred  two  years  to  allow  school  authori- 
ties to  make  necessary  adjustments.* 

SUPERVISION  OF  THE  ISSUANCE  OF  EMPLOYMENT  CERTIFICATES 

Another  administrative  feature  brought  to  the  Commission's 
attention  is  the  need  for  supervision  in  the  issuance  of  employ- 
ment certificates  by  health  officers  throughout  the  state.  Under 
the  law,  children  who  desire  to  work  must  obtain  an  employment 
certificate  from  the  health  officer  of  the  city  or  town  in  which 
they  reside.  The  law  prescribes  the  age  of  the  children,  and  the 
educational  and  physical  qualifications  which  they  must  meet  to 
receive  such  a  certificate.  It  is  evident  that  the  good  the  law 
seeks  to  accomplish  through  these  safeguards  may  be  nullified  by 
the  carelessness  or  indifference  of  the  official  issuing  the  certifi- 
cate. In  view  of  the  many  communities  in  which  these  certifi- 
cates are  issued  it  is  not  surprising  that  a  great  difference  has 
resulted  in  the  thoroughness  of  the  attention  given  to  this  matter. 
In  some  towns  the  health  of  the  children  who  apply  has  received 
little  or  no  attention;  in  others  improper  kinds  of  proof  of  the 
children's  ages  have  been  accepted;  and  still  in  others  the  test 
as  to  their  educational  proficiency  has  been  entirely  neglected. 

Furthermore,  the  announcements  of  changes  made  by  the  leg- 
islature in  the  law  frequently  reach  health  officers  by  mere  chance 
notice  of  them  in  the  newspapers.  Another  result  of  the  lack 
of  supervision  is  the  great  variety  of  forms  in  use  by  different 
officials.  Some  of  these  forms  are  excellent  and  carefully  pre- 
pared; while  others  are  out  of  date  because  of  changes  in  the 

*  Bills   13   and   14,    Appendix   I. 


180  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

law,  or  fail  to  satisfy  fully  the  legal  requirements.  In  order 
to  protect  children  in  the  manner  in  which  the  law-makers  in- 
tended, the  Commission  feels  that  to  the  Department  of  Labor, 
the  agency  most  closely  connected  with  working  children,  should 
be  assigned  the  definite  duty  of  supervising  the  issuance  of 
employment  certificates  by  the  local  health  officers,  and  at  least 
for  smaller  places  the  duty  of  preparing  and  furnishing  the  nec- 
essary blanks  and  forms  needed  by  them  in  that  work.  To  the 
inspectors  of  the  Department  of  Labor  should  also  be  given  the 
right  to  examine  the  records  of  any  local  health  department 
pertaining  to  the  issuance  of  employment  certificates. 

THE  PHYSICAL  EXAMINATION  OF  CHILDREN  IN  FACTORIES 

The  Commission  has  previously  recommended  the  creation  of 
a  section  of  medical  inspection  in  the  state  department  of  labor, 
to  be  composed  of  four  medical  inspectors,  all  duly  licensed  physi- 
cians. With  this  machinery  it  is  now  possible  for  the  Com- 
mission to  make  definite  recommendations  concerning  the  medical 
supervision  of  children  between  14  and  16  years  of  age,  after 
they  have  been  granted  employment  certificates  and  are  actually 
engaged  in  factory  work. 

The  necessity  for  this  continued  supervision  of  the  child  after 
it  has  entered  the  ranks  of  industrial  workers  has  been  clearly 
emphasized  in  our  preliminary  report.  It  can  hardly  be  said  that 
the  state  has  performed  its  full  duty  by  issuing  an  employment 
certificate  permitting  a  young  child  of  fourteen  to  work  in  a 
factory,  if  after  that  it  entirely  disregards  the  child's  physical 
condition. 

Under  the  present  law,  after  an  employment  certificate  has 
once  been  issued,  the  medical  inspector  is  powerless  to  act  when 
he  finds  a  child  who  is  physically  unfit  working  in  a  factory. 

Dr.  Rogers,  the  medical  inspector  of  the  Department  of  Labor, 
called  attention  to  the  following  striking  case: 

"I  found  a  boy  of  fifteen  years  old  in  a  pottery  factory 
who  had  not  recovered  from  an  attack  of  typhoid  fever.  He 
was  in  what  should  have  been  the  convalescent  stage  of 
typhoid  fever  and  should  have  been  at  home.  That  boy  was 
running  slips  in  the  pottery,  a  very  dirty  occupation,  and 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  181 

putting  handles  on  to  the  cups.  The  boy  was  anemic  and 
absolutely  unfit  to  continue  at  work.  Yet  that  boy  was  legally 
employed  and  we  had  no  power  under  the  law  to  order  the 
boy  to  go  home." 

The  health  officer  of  the  city  of  Buffalo  testified  before  the 
Commission : 

"  Our  experience  shows  that  a  great  number  of  children 
who  receive  employment  certificates  between  the  ages  of  14 
and  16  are  just  about  inside  the  line  of  being  healthy,  but 
perhaps  a  few  days  or  a  few  weeks  of  work  will  place  them 
in  the  subnormal  class  again  so  that  they  should  not  be  per- 
mitted to  work.  We  believe  children  of  that  kind  should  be 
stopped  from  working." 

The  doctor  also  testified  that  he  examined  a  number  of  children 
in  factories  within  a  few  weeks  after  they  had  been  granted  em- 
ployment certificates,  and  found  that  ten  per  cent,  of  these  chil- 
dren were  physically  unfit  for  any  kind  of  factory  work.  To 
permit  these  children  to  continue  at  work  in  a  factory  means  the 
undermining  of  their  health  and  in  many  cases  causes  early  death. 

Of  course,  four  inspectors  with  their  many  other  duties  could 
not  attempt  to  make  a  physical  examination  even  once  a  year  of 
every  one  of  the  14,000  children  employed  in  factories.  We  would 
not,  therefore,  recommend  that  the  physical  examination  of  all 
such  children  be  made  mandatory.  We  believe  that  the  desired 
results  would  be  accomplished  if  the  medical  inspectors  of  the 
department  were  given  power  to  examine  any  child  between  four- 
teen and  sixteen  years  employed  in  a  factory,  and  to  cancel  the 
working  certificate  of  any  child  found  physically  unfit  for  factory 
work.  The  medical  inspector  on  entering  the  factory  could  use 
his  discretion  as  to  what  children  he  thought  should  be  examined. 
The  trained  eye  of  a  physician  can  often  tell  at  a  glance  whether 
or  not  a  child  is  ill.  The  appearance  of  the  child,  the  nature  of 
the  work  in  which  he  was  engaged,  the  sanitary  condition  of  the 
workshop  would  all  be  factors  in  determining  what  children  should 
be  examined.  In  the  course  of  a  year  there  is  no  doubt  but  that 
several  thousand  of  these  young  factory  workers  would  be  exam- 


182  REPOKT  OF  COMMISSION. 

ined  and  that  a  great  many  of  them  who  were  found  physically 
unfit  would  be  prevented  from  continuing  at  work  that  overtaxed 
their  strength. 

OCCUPATIONS  DANGEROUS  TO  HEALTH 

Closely  related  to  the  physical  examination  of  young  children 
in  factories  is  the  power  of  dismissing  a  child  from  employment 
deemed  dangerous  to  his  health.  There  are  very  many  cases  where 
the  child  is  physically  fit  for  general  factory  work,  but  where  the 
particular  occupation  in  which  he  is  engaged  is  dangerous  to  his 
health. 

Our  statute  sets  forth  a  number  of  occupations  deemed  injurious 
to  health  in  which  the  employment  of  children  is  prohibited.  This 
list  is  inadequate,  for  it  fails  to  cover  many  dangerous  occupa- 
tions and  overlooks  the  fact  that  there  may  be  certain  processes  or 
methods  of  manufacturing  within  a  given  industry  not  on  the  pro- 
hibited list  which  are  so  injurious  to  the  health  of  minors  as  to 
demand  their  exclusion  therefrom. 

New  cases  are  constantly  coming  up  where  the  medical  in- 
spector is  powerless  to  act,  because  power  is  not  specifically 
granted  in  the  statute.  The  medical  inspector  called  the  follow- 
ing cases  to  the  attention  of  the  Commission  in  his  testimony: 

"I  have  seen  several  boys  in  the  glass  blowing  industry 
legally  employed  and  yet  in  my  opinion  and  the  opinion  of 
any  good  medical  man,  they  had  no  business  to  be  in  that 
place  at  all.  Large  quantities  of  fine  glass  dust  were  blowing 
around  in  the  air.  Yet  these  boys  were  working  there  legally. 
We  could  not  force  the  employer  to  remove  that  glass  dust ;  it 
was  not  created  by  machinery  and  we  could  not  force  the 
dismissal  of  the  boys  because  they  had  working  certificates 
and  were  legally  employed." 

"In  an  incandescent  mantle  factory  children  were  sitting 
in  a  frame  probably  20  x  30  feet  long,  lighted  with  gas  flames. 
The  frame  is  probably  6  or  1  feet  wide  and  these  children 
were  sitting  right  in  the  midst  of  escaping  illuminating  gas 
which  contains  large  quantities  of  carbon  monoxide  gas,  a 
most  dangerous  poison  because  it  destroys  the  blood  cella, 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  183 

The  children  were  legally  employed  because  they  had  work- 
ing certificates,  yet  it  is  an  occupation  I  would  very  much 
hesitate  to  put  a  robust  man  in  to  work  at." 

In  addition  to  the  occupations  specifically  prohibited  in  the 
statute,  power  should  be  given  to  the  Industrial  Board  of  the 
Department  of  Labor  to  specify  as  dangerous  to  health  particular 
trades,  occupations,  and  processes  of  manufacture,  or  particular 
methods  of  conducting  the  same,  and  to  prohibit  or  regulate  the 
employment  of  minors  under  the  age  of  eighteen  in  these  occupa- 
tions and  processes  of  manufacture.  The  practical  result  would  be 
that  if  a  medical  inspector  found  a  minor  under  sixteen  working 
under  unhealthful  conditions  he  could  demand  either  that  the  im- 
proper conditions  be  remedied,  or  the  process  of  manufacturing 
changed.  Failing  in  both  attempts,  he  would  report  the  case  to  the 
Industrial  Board,  who,  within  a  very  short  time,  would  adopt  a 
regulation  placing  that  occupation  or  process  of  manufacture  on 
the  list  of  prohibited  employments. 

In  most  cases  the  knowledge  that  the  Industrial  Board  had  this 
power  would,  on  demand,  bring  about  an  immediate  improvement 
in  the  unhealthful  conditions  and  the  removal  of  the  dangerous 
elements  complained  of.  In  any  event,  it  would  not  be  necessary 
to  go  to  the  legislature  every  time  a  new  case  of  an  unhealthful 
occupation  was  called  to  the  attention  of  the  medical  inspector.* 

DANGEROUS  MACHINERY 

What  is  true  of  prohibited  employments  deemed  injurious  to 
the  health  of  minors  applies  with  equal  force*  to  the  prohibition 
of  minors  from  operating  or  assisting  in  operating  dangerous 
machinery. 

The  law  now  specifies  in  detail  the  machines  which  a  child 
under  16  years  shall  not  be  permitted  to  operate;  but  when  a 
child  is  found  working  at  a  dangerous  machine  not  specified  in 
the  statute,  the  Department  of  Labor  is  powerless  to  stop  that 
employment.  The  result  is  that  we  find  many  cases  of  accidents 

*  Bill   26,  Appendix    I. 


184  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

that  occur  to  children  while  operating  machines  not  specified  in 
the  statute.  A  number  of  such  cases  reported  to  the  Department 
of  Labor  within  the  past  six  months  follows : 

F.  S ,  male,  15,  roller  boy,  earning  $5.70  a  week,  work- 
ing on  French  drawing  frame.  Tried  to  fix  broken  end  on 
drawing  frame  and  index  finger,  right  hand,  was  caught  in 
the  porcupine  roller.  Flesh  on  finger  torn  away  by  porcupine 
teeth.  Will  probably  have  to  have  finger  amputated. 

J.  S ,  male,  14,  nail  sticker,  earning  $4  a  week,  oper- 
ating American  Lightning  Heeling  Machine.  A  nail  flew 
out  of  loader  as  nails  were  released.  Injured  boy  attempted 
to  brush  it  off  with  his  finger.  He  was  caught  by  descending 
drivers.  Bone  broken  in  forefinger  of  left  hand  between  1st 
and  2nd  joints.  Flesh  cut  and  torn. 

F.  K. ,  male,  15,  earning  $3.50  a  week,  operating  Bal- 
ing Press.  Gearing  wheels  carefully  guarded.  Xotwith- 
standing,  he  stooped  and  placed  his  hands  under  the  guard 
to  the  gearing  wheels.  Lacerated  first  finger,  amputation 
2nd  and  3rd  finger  at  first  joint,  lacerated  middle  finger. 

E.  M ,  male,  16,  earning  $5.00  a  week,  operating 

Filling  Machine.  Cover  on  guard  over  revolving  cylinder 
was  removed  while  machine  was  in  motion  and  the  operator 
caught  his  hands  on  the  pins  of  the  cylinder.  Severe  lacera- 
tion of  two  fingers  of  left  hand  and  of  wrist;  one  finger  was 
partly  amputated. 

M.  C ,  female,  14,  earning  $3.00  a  week,  operating 

Automatic  Cutting  Machine.  Was  waiting  for  work  to  be 
given  her  and  took  up  a  screw  driver  and  was  scraping  around 
with  it;  she  put  her  foot  on  starting  lever  and  drew  in  the 
screw  driver,  also  her  finger.  First  finger  of  left  hand  was 
smashed  and  apparently  broken  and  was  later  taken  off  at 
the  first  joint. 

These  cases  are  but  typical  of  many  annually  reported  to  the 
labor  department,  of  accidents  to  children  while  they  were  oper- 
ating machines  not  specified  in  the  statute.  The  remedy  is  plain. 
In  addition  to  naming  specific  machines  that  a  child  shall  not  be 
permitted  to  operate,  the  statute  should  contain  a  broad  pro- 
vision forbidding  any  child  under  sixteen  years  to  operate  or  to 
assist  in  operating  any  dangerous  machine  or  machinery,  and 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  185 

permitting  the  Industrial  Board  to  determine  by  rules  and  regu- 
lations what  machines  are  dangerous.  In  a  very  short  time 
there  would  be  a  comprehensive  set  of  rules  and  regulations  on 
the  subject  which  could  from  time  to  time  be  readily  augmented 
or  altered. 

If,  for  instance,  an  inspector  should  find  a  child  under  sixteen 
years  operating  a  dangerous  machine  not  specified  in  the  statute 
he  would  immediately  report  the  fact  to  the  Industrial  Board. 
In  the  meantime  the  inspector  by  calling  attention  to  the  board's 
powers  would  probably  secure  an  immediate  dismissal  of  the 
child  from  the  dangerous  employment  or  in  any  event,  the  board 
in  a  very  short  time  would  add  that  machine  to  the  list  of  those 
at  which  the  employment  of  a  child  is  prohibited.  As  the  law 
is  to-day,  no  one  cares  to  go  to  the  legislature  for  an  amendment 
to  the  statute  every  time  a  new  type  of  dangerous  machine  is 
discovered.* 

JURISDICTION   OVER   PROSECUTIONS   FOR    VIOLATION   OF   CHILD 
LABOR  AND  COMPULSORY  EDUCATION  LAWS 

The  Commission  has  been  urged  to  recommend  the  extension 
of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Children's  Court  in  cities  of  the  first 
class,  to  include  prosecutions  for  violation  of  the  child  labor  law 
and  compulsory  education  law  of  the  state. 

At  present  such  prosecutions  must  be  begun  in  the  Magistrates' 
Court  and  continued  in  the  Court  of  Special  Sessions  if  the 
magistrate  finds  the  evidence  sufficient  to  hold  the  defendant  for 
trial  in  the  higher  court. 

By  the  proposed  arrangement  all  such  cases  would  be  heard 
immediately  in  the  Children's  Court.  In  favor  of  this  change  it 
is  argued  that  since  the  children  are  frequently  witnesses  in  trials 
they  are  now  subject  to  the  contaminating  influences  of  a  court 
room  in  which  criminal  cases  of  all  kinds  are  heard.  It  is  urged 
also  that  it  is  altogether  logical  that  a  Children's  Court  should 
hear  cases  where  children  are  sinned  against  as  well  as  the  cases 
in  which  they  are  sinners. 

*  Bill   26,   Appendix   I. 


186  REPOKT  OF 'COMMISSION. 

This  extension  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Children's  Court  has 
been  opposed  by  many,  because  that  court  would  then  cease  to  be 
what  its  name  implies.  They  argue  that  such  an  extension  of 
jurisdiction  is  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  theory  upon  which 
these  courts  have  been  created,  which  is  that  they  shall  deal 
exclusively  with  youthful  misconduct;  and  that  it  would  bring 
questions  of  criminality  into  the  Children's  Court,  which  legis- 
lation has  in  the  past  sought  zealously  to  exclude. 

In  the  opinion  of  the  Commission  such  a  proposed  extension  of 
jurisdiction  would  not  be  wise  at  this  time.  The  Children's 
Court  in  this  state  is  yet  in  an  experimental  stage.  It  is  still 
struggling  against  too  many  difficulties,  to  perform  the  additional 
work  that  would  be  thrust  upon  it  by  the  proposed  measure. 
Even  now  it  is  unable  to  do  properly  the  work  which  it  is  called 
upon  to  do.  The  Manhattan  court  has  about  10,000  children  each 
year  arraigned  before  it;  and  even  with  the  improvements  that 
have  recently  been  made  in  the  way  of  building  facilities  and  in 
the  number  of  probation  officers,  the  court  will  still  be  handi- 
capped in  its  work  for  some  time  to  come.  No  extension  of  the 
court's  work,  even  assuming  that  it  is  desirable,  could  wisely  be 
made  for  at  least  three  or  four  years. 

We  wish  to  emphasize,  however,  the  necessity  of  protecting 
the  child  witnesses  from  any  contaminating  influences  in  the 
court  room.  It  is  simple  to  do  this  both  in  the  Magistrates' 
Court  and  in  the  Court  of  Special  Sessions  by  keeping  the 
children  in  a  separate  room  until  they  are  called  as  witnesses. 
We  recommend  that  this  step  be  taken  at  once.  It  could  also  be 
arranged  that  the  cases  in  which  children  are  witnesses  be  tried 
on  a  special  day. 

THE  ENFORCEMENT  OF  THE  CHILD  LABOR  LAW 

To  the  effective  enforcement  of  the  child  labor  law  throughout 
the  state,  all  the  energies  of  the  Department  of  Labor  should  be 
directed.  Much  has  already  been  accomplished  by  the  depart- 
ment in  the  city  of  New  York;  but  a  great  deal  still  remains 
to  be  done  through  the  rest  of  the  state.  Prosecutions  for  viola- 
tion of  the  child  labor  law  in  cities  up-state  are  not  as  frequent 
as  the  conditions  demand. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  187 

A  table  is  attached  of  prosecutions  instituted  by  the  Depart- 
ment of  Labor  for  violation  of  the  child  labor  law  from  October 
1st,  1911,  to  September  30th,  1912.  This  table  shows  the  differ- 
ence in  results  between  the  city  of  New  York  and  the  rest  of 
the  state. 


188 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 


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0  Grand  Jury  failed  to  find 

190  K.EPOKT  OF  COMMISSION. 

The  Commission  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  inspectors  in  cities 
up-state  are  not  doing  their  full  duty  in  connection  with  the  en- 
forcement of  this  law.  Only  recently  a  factory  inspector  in 
Syracuse  gave  us  the  astounding  information  that  if  he  found 
a  child  between  fourteen  and  sixteen  employed  in  a  factory  after 
5  o'clock  in  the  evening  in  violation  of  law,  he  would  not  prose- 
cute the  employer,  but  would  simply  notify  the  Albany  office  of 
the  Labor  Department.  A  notice  would  then  be  sent  directing 
the  owner  to  cease  the  illegal  employment.  The  inspector  would 
visit  the  premises  a  few  days  later  and  unless  he  found  that  same 
child  again  employed  after  5  o'clock  in  violation  of  the  law,  no 
proceedings  would  be  instituted  against  the  employer. 

Of  course  such  procedure  is  absurd.  It  simply  fosters  con- 
tempt and  indifference  for  the  law.  That  is  not  the  procedure 
adopted  by  the  labor  department  in  New  York  City,  and  it  should 
not  be  countenanced  anywhere  in  the  state. 

This  condition  of  affairs  is  due  in  a  measure  to  the  fact  that 
there  is  no  special  counsel  assigned  for  the  prosecution  of  such 
cases  in  cities  up-state,  whereas  there  is  one  in  the  city  of  New 
York. 

To  remedy  this  situation  the  Commission  has  recommended  the 
appointment  of  an  additional  assistant  counsel  to  the  Department 
of  Labor  whose  headquarters  shall  be  in  the  city  of  Buffalo  or  in 
such  other  city  as  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  may  direct. 

CONTINUATION  SCHOOLS 

Owing  to  the  limitation  of  time  placed  upon  our  work  we  have 
necessarily  been  obliged  to  confine  ourselves  to  matters  that  are 
directly  concerned  with  health  and  safety.  We  feel,  however, 
that  it  would  not  be  fitting  to  close  this  portion  of  our  report 
without  referring  briefly  to  what  we  consider  one  of  the  most 
crying  needs  in  our  present  industrial  system,  the  continued  edu- 
cation of  children  who  are  obliged  to  go  to  work  at  an  early  age. 
In  our  preliminary  report  we  said: 

"  Under  our  present  economic  system,  children  often  begin 
their  life  of  toil  at  an  early  age,  but  this  evil  certainly  does 
not  lessen  the  obligation  of  the  State  to  provide  for  their 
education.  Modern  factory  conditions  undoubtedly  deaden 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  191 

in  the  great  majority  of  cases  whatever  intellectual  interest 
the  child  may  have.  It  is  for  these  young  workers  that  we 
must  plan,  and  provide  with  even  greater  care  than  for  those 
who  are  fortunate  enough  to  continue  at  school." 

If  we  are  to  keep  pace  with  the  progress  of  European  countries 
we  must  provide  as  they  are  doing  for  this  continued  education. 
We  strongly  commend  this  subject  to  the  attention  of  the  various 
departments  of  education,  state  and  local,  and  hope  that  continua- 
tion-schools for  children  who  have  gone  to  work,  will  soon  be  a 
reality. 

SUMMARY 

For  protecting  the  health  and  safety  of  young  children  em- 
ployed in  the  factories  of  the  state  we  make  the  following  sug- 
gestions for  remedial  legislation: 

1.  That  the  present  requirement  for  a  thorough  physical  ex- 
amination before  an  employment  certificate  is  issued,  which  now 
applies    only    to    factories,    be    extended    also    to    mercantile 
establishments. 

2.  That  every  local  health  board  be  required  to  transmit  to 
the  Department  of  Labor  duplicate  records  of   all  physical  ex- 
aminations, including  the  records  of  children  whose  applications 
for   employment   certificates  were   rejected   because   of   physical 
unfitness. 

3.  That  instead  of  the  present  vague  and  indefinite  educational 
requirement  for  employment  certificates,  there  be  adopted  a  uni- 
form standard ;  that  is,  the  completion  of  the  first  six  years  of  the 
public  elementary  school,  or  school  equivalent  thereto,  or  of  the 
parochial  school. 

4.  That  the  Department  of  Labor  shall  have  supervision  over 
the  issuance  of  employment  certificates  by  health  departments  in 
the  different  cities  and  that  the  department  shall  furnish  uniform 
blanks  and  forms  to  be  used  by  each  local  health  department. 

5.  That  power  be  given  to  the  medical  inspectors  of  the  De- 
partment of  Labor  to  examine  any  child  between  fourteen  and 
sixteen  years  of  age  employed  in   a   factory  and  to   cause  the 
cancellation  of  the  employment  certificate  of  any  such  child  who 
is  found  to  be  physically  unfit  for  factory  work. 


192  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

6.  That  the  Industrial  Board  shall  have  power  to  make  rules 
and  regulations  specifying  from  time  to  time  trades,  processes 
of  manufacture,  and  occupations  deemed  injurious  to  health,  and 
to  prohibit  the  employment  of  minors  under  the  age  of  eighteen 
in  all  such  occupations. 

7.  That  there  be  added  to  the  present  statute  specifying  danger- 
ous machines  which  children  are  not  permitted  to  operate,  a  broad 
provision  prohibiting  any  child  from  operating  any  dangerous 
machine,  and  leaving  power  to  the  Industrial  Board  from  time 
to  time  to  specify  such  machines. 

We  also  recommend : 

1.  A  more  effective  enforcement  of  the  child  labor  law  in  all 
the  cities  of  the  state  as  well  as  in  New  York  City. 

2.  That  children  who  attend  as  witnesses  in  criminal  courts 
on  the  trials  of  cases  involving  prosecution  for  violation  of  the 
child  labor  law  and  of  the  compulsory  education  law  be  kept  in  a 
separate  room  until  their  cases  are  called  and,  if  practicable,  that 
their  cases  be  heard  on  special  days. 

3.  That  the  entire  matter  of  the  continued  education  of  young 
children,  after  they  begin  work,  be  thoroughly  investigated  by 
the  various  departments  of  education  both  of  the  state  and  of  its 
individual  communities. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  193 


VI. 

NIGHT  WOEK  OF  WOMEN  IN  FACTORIES 

None  of  the  investigations  carried  on  by  the  Commission,  has 
shown  conditions  more  dangerous  to  health  and  public  welfare 
than  the  employment  of  women  at  night  in  the  factories  of  the 
State.  Conditions  of  life  were  revealed  which  seemed  certain 
not  only  to  destroy  the  health  of  the  women  employed  at  night, 
but  to  threaten  the  very  existence  of  the  young  children  de- 
pendent upon  them  for  nourishment  and  care. 

For  instance,  in  one  large  industrial  plant  in  the  central  part 
of  the  state,  from  130  to  140  women  were  found  at  work  on 
night  shift.  They  were  employed  for  ten  hours  on  five  nights 
of  each  week,  from  7  P.  M.  to  5 :30  A.  M.,  with  a  break  of  half 
an  hour  at  midnight.  The  output  of  this  factory  is  twine  made 
from  hemp  and  the  work  involves  exposure  to  much  dust,  great 
noise,  and,  in  some  rooms,  great  heat.  The  married  women  who 
worked  at  night  had  on  an  average  about  four  and  one-half  hours 
of  sleep  in  the  day  time;  they  prepared  three  meals  each  day, 
including  breakfast  which  had  to  be  made  ready  immediately 
after  the  night's  work.  They  also  did  all  the  washing  for  their 
families.  Many  of.  them  returned  to  their  homes  after  ten  hours 
of  work  at  night  in  the  dust  and  roar  of  the  twine  factory,  to 
nurse  their  babies  in  the  morning  and  during  the  day  time. 

The  lack  of  detailed  information  in  regard  to  the  night  work 
of  women  of  the  United  States  in  general,  and  in  the  factories  of 
New  York  State  in  particular  gives  special  value  to  this  investi- 
gation by  the  Commission,  and  makes  it  desirable  to  set  forth 
the  facts  in  some  detail. 

THE  DANGER  TO  HEALTH  FEOM  NIGHT  WOEK 

The  twine  works  were  repeatedly  visited  by  agents  of  the  Com- 
mission, both  at  night  and  during  the  day  and  individual  reports 
were  secured,  giving  the  personal  histories  of  one  hundred  of  the 
women  who  worked  on  night  shift. 

13 


194  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

The  general  appearance  of  the  night  workers  is  thus  described : 

"  Most  of  the  women  on  the  night  shift  are  married,"  says 
the  investigator.  "  The  appearance  of  the  women  workers 
is  very  disheartening.  They  are  stolid,  worn  looking,  aud 
pale.  Their  clothes,  faces,  and  hands  are  covered  with  oil 
and  hemp  dust." 

And  again: 

"  The  women  as  a  whole  were  a  disheartening  group,  in 
their  oily,  dust  laden  clothes,  with  drawn  white  faces  and 
stooping  gait." 

The  special  investigators  report  that  of  the  one  hundred  women, 
whose  personal  histories  were  secured,  95  were  Polish.  There 
were  80  women  between  twenty  and  thirty  years  of  age.  Of  these 
one  hundred  women  62  were  anemic,  57  complained  of  backache, 
and  53  of  headache.  In  77  cases  menstrual  periods  were  regular; 
in  24  not  regular  (8  pregnant).  All  operatives  worked  standing. 

These  observations  agree  with  the  findings  of  all  previous  in- 
vestigators who  have  studied  the  industrial  night  work  of  women.* 
The  publication  of  the  results  of  these  studies  by  the  International 
Association  for  Labor  Legislation  in  1903  was  so  convincing  as  to 
the  injurious  effect  of  night  work,  that  three  years  later  an  inter- 
national treaty  prohibiting  the  employment  of  women  at  night  was 
signed  by  fourteen  European  nations, — an  epoch  making  event 
which  will  be  described  more  fully  later  in  this  report. 

The  authorities  all  agree  that  after  a  shorter  or  longer  period 
women  who  are  employed  at  night  or  until  late  evening  hours 
suffer  from  all  those  symptoms  which  mark  lowered  vitality,  if 
not  actual  disease,  such  as  loss  of  appetite,  headache,  anemia, 
and  weakness  of  the  female  functions. 

Experimentation  upon  animals  has  shown  that  in  extreme  cases 
death  results  far  more  quickly  from  continuous  loss  of  sleep  than 
from  starvation.  Thus  a  special  investigation  shows  that  though 
puppies  can  live  without  food  for  twenty  days  and  recover  after 
careful  feeding,  the  loss  of  four  to  five  days'  sleep  results  in 
death. f  It  has  also  been  shown  that  animals  kept  in  the  dark 
without  sunlight  suffer  a  loss  of  the  red  coloring  matter  in  the 

*  Night  Work   of  Women  In  Industry,   Reports  on   its   importance   and  legal 
regulation.    Preface  by  Prof.    E.   Bauer,    Jena,   1903. 
t  Sleep,  by  M.   de  Manaceine,   London,  1897. 


EEPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  195 

blood.  The  same  is  found  true  of  night-workers  who  are  deprived 
of  sunlight;  impoverished  blood  is  one  of  the  main  symptoms. 
This  fact  was  confirmed  by  an  examination  of  800  bakers  by  the 
investigators  of  the  Commission,  described  in  its  Preliminary 
Report.  Night  work  was  found  to  increase  their  morbidity  and 
mortality,  as  well  as  to  upset  all  the  normal  habits  of  social  life.* 

The  chief  danger  of  health  from  night  work  is  thus  due  to  the 
inevitable  lack  of  sleep  and  sunlight.  Recuperation  from  fatigue 
takes  place  fully  only  in  sleep,  and  best,  in  sleep  at  night.  Hence, 
night  work  is,  in  a  word,  against  nature.  When  exhausting 
factory  work  fills  the  night,  and  household  work  most  of  the  day, 
health  must  inevitably  be  sacrificed. 

This  injury  to  health  is  all  the  greater,  because  sleep  lost  at 
night  by  working  women  is  never  fully  made  up  by  day.  For  in 
the  first  place,  sleep  in  the  day  time  is  not  equal  in  recuperative 
power  to  sleep  at  night.  Dr.  Epstein  says,  in  his  work  on  the 
"  Diseases  of  Bakers  " :  "  Doctors  and  experts  on  hygiene  are 
unanimous  in  declaring  that  sleep  at  night  can  in  nowise  be  re- 
placed by  sleep  in  the  day  time."f  Various  other  medical 
authorities  confirm  this  opinion.  Morover,  quiet  and  privacy  for 
sleep  by  day  is  almost  impossible  to  secure.  Upon  returning  home 
in  the  middle  of  the  night  or  at  dawn  the  workers  can  snatch  at 
most  only  a  few  hours'  rest. 

We  have  seen  that  the  married  women  who  worked  on  night 
shift  had  on  an  average  only  about  four  and  one-half  hours  of 
sleep  in  the  day  time. 

"  The  hours  of  sleep  varied  with  the  individual,"  continues 
the  investigator.  "  Some  slept  an  hour  or  two  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  for  a  time  in  the  afternoon ;  others  slept  at  intervals 
of  about  an  hour  each  during  the  day.  They  all  slept  in 
bedrooms  which  had  been  occupied  during  the  night  by  hus- 
band and  children." 

Forty-eight  of  the  women*  worked  at  night  in  the  spinning  room 
of  the  mill,  thirty  in  the  balling  room,  twenty-two  in  the  preparing 
room.  Of  the  conditions  of  work  the  investigators  say: 

"  Dust  is  the  predominating  evil."  Again :  "  There  is 
considerable  dust  in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  mill.  This  dust 

•Preliminary  Report  of  the  Commission,  1912,  Appendix  III.  Report  on 
Bakeries  and  Bakers  in  New  York  City. 

Epstein.    Handbuch  der  Arbeiterkrankheiten,   1908. 


196  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

is  caused  by  the  nature  of  the  raw  product,  hemp.  It  fills 
the  preparing  room  where  the  hemp  bales  are  opened  and 
the  hemp  prepared.  *  *  *  The  dust  in  this  department  is 
so  thick  that  the  clothes  and  caps  of  the  women  are  com- 
pletely covered  with  it."  * 

Of  the  noise  in  which  the  women  work,  the  investigator  says : 

"The  clatter  of  the  machinery  here  is  so  frightful  that  a 
voice  can  hardly  be  heard  below  a  shriek.  *  *  *  The  intense 
noise  of  the  machinery  must  have  some  effect  on  hearing  and 
the  nervous  system.  The  investigator  had  ringing  in  her 
ears  and  was  somewhat  deafened  when  she  went  from  the 
spinning  room  into  the  office.  *  *  *  The  night  matron  said 
she  could  not  stay  as  long  as  the  investigators  did  in  the 
spinning  room  because  she  couldn't  stand  the  noise,  but  that 
the  Poles  were  used  to  it." 

Besides  noise  and  dust,  some  of  the  workers  are  subjected  while 
at  work  to  great  heat.  "  The  spinning  room  in  the  basement  is 
eight  or  nine  feet  high.  On  hot  days  it  must  be  a  veritable 
inferno."  "  The  watchman  says  that  on  very  hot  nights,  the 
temperature  on  the  top  floor  is  108  degrees  F.,"  writes  the  investi- 
gator quoted  above. 

The  wages  earned  were  as  follows: 

One-third  of  the  women  earned  from  $7  to  $7.99  a  week,  an- 
other third  earned  from  $8  to  $10  (28  earned  from  $8  to  $8.99, 
and  6  from  $9  to  $10).  Only  one  woman  made  $12  a  week;  11 
women  made  as  little  as  from  $6  to  $7.  The  remaining  23  re- 
ceived varying  wages,  so  that  an  average  could  not  be  accurately 
taken. 

Most  of  the  100  women  specially  investigated  were  married. 
There  were  18  unmarried  and  5  widowed.  Of  the  82  married  or 
widowed  nightworkers,  75  had  children.  Of  the  children  24  were 
infants  under  one  year,  19  between  one  and  two  years,  18  between 
two  and  three  years,  17  between  three  and  four  years  and  19  be- 
tween four  and  five  years.  There  were  43  children  between  five 
and  ten  years  of  age.  In  many  cases  the  mothers  explained  that 
they  worked  at  night  though  they  found  the  labor  exhausting,  in 

•  Since  the  visit  of  the  Commission,  we  are  informed  that  a  contract  has 
been  closed  by  the  management  to  install  dust-removing  apparatus  for  the 
various  machines. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  197 

order  that  they  might  nurse  or  take  care  of  their  children  in  the 
day  time.  "  N.  W.  wants  to  work  at  night  on  account  of  her  baby 
which  she  is  nursing."  "  N.  D.  wants  to  do  night  work  on  ac- 
count of  baby."  "  N.  T.  is  nursing  her  baby  now  and  would 
rather  work  nights  so  that  she  can  feed  the  baby  in  the  day  time ;" 
such  are  the  repeated  reports  of  the  investigators.  Only  a  few  of 
the  women  seemed  to  realize  that  this  combination  might  prove 
disastrous. 

"  Mrs.  M.  N changed  from  night  to  day  work,  because 

it  took  all  her  strength  to  stay  up  all  day  besides.  Now 
working  days  she  gets  up  and  dresses,  and  cares  for  all  the 
children  before  she  goes  to  work. 

"Another  woman  says  she  did  not  like  night  work.  It 
was  too  hard.  Quit  three  weeks  ago.  'I  used  to  be  cross 
to  my  children  when  I  worked  nights,  because  I  was  so  tired 
all  the  time.' " 

Even  without  night  work  it  has  been  shown  that  the  return  of 
married  women  to  factory  work  after  childbirth  increases  the 
mortality  of  infants.  Indeed,  owing  to  complex  causes  a  much 
higher  death  rate  of  infants  exists  in  such  manufacturing  towns  as 
Fall  River,  Massachusetts,  and  Biddeford,  Maine,  than  in  non- 
manufacturing  towns.  The  following  table  shows  this  fact : 

The  number  of  deaths  of  infants  under  one  year  per  100  deaths 
at  all  ages  was,  in  the  year  1910  as  follows  :* 

Boston 19 

Chicago 21 

New  York  City 21 

Biddeford 27 

Lowell.  . 29 

Lawrence 35 

Holyoke 35 

Fall  River 39 

In  1910  the  number  of  deaths  of  infants  under  one  year  per 
1,000  births  in  the  selected  cities,  was  as  follows  :f 

New  York  City 125 

Boston 126 

*  Bureau  of  the  Census.    Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,   Bulletin  109. 
Mortality  Statistics,   1910,   p.   14,   Washington,  1912. 
t/6id,  p    18. 


198  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

Philadelphia 138 

Lawrence 167 

New  Bedford 177 

Holyoke 213 

Lowell 231 

What  must  be  the  result  when  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  labor 
of  mothers,  the  factory  night  work  of  mothers  is  added  ? 

Ignorant  women  can  scarcely  be  expected  to  realize  the  dangers 
not  only  to  their  own  health  but  to  that  of  the  next  generation 
from  such  inhuman  usage.  But  it  is  precisely  to  prevent  such 
conditions  of  toil  as  threaten  the  welfare  of  society  that  labor  laws 
are  designed.  These  instances  show  the  urgent  need  of  providing 
by  law  an  adequate  period  of  rest  at  night  for  women  who  work  in 
factories. 

The  twine  factory  is  not  the  only  establishment  in  New  York 
State  that  employs;  women  on  regular  night  shift.  It  has  been  here 
described  at  some  length  both  because  it  shows  the  practices  which 
obtain  without  a  legal  prohibition  of  night  work,  and  also  because 
no  such  detailed  information  regarding  women's  night  work  in 
other  establishments  is  available. 

The  'Commission  heard  evidence  also  as  to  the  custom  of  employ- 
ing women  on  night  shifts  in  other  industries.  Thus,  for  instance, 
in  certain  textile  mills  in  the  central  part  of  the  state,  women  work 
from  7 :00  P.  M.  until  6 :00  A.  M.  on  five  nights  in  the  week.  In 
New  York  City  certain  candy  factories  employ  regular  night  shifts 
of  women  on  five  nights  of  the  week  during  December. 

THE  DANGER  TO  HEALTH  FROM  LATE  OVERTIME  EVENING  WORK 

The  preceding  examples  illustrate  the  dangers  of  a  regular  night 
shift.  But  far  more  usual  than  the  all-night  shift  is  employment 
"  overtime  "  until  late  at  night.  In  many  trades  employee?  are  re- 
quired to  work  many  hours  after  and  in  addition  to  the  regular 
day's  work,  a  practice  which  subjects  women  already  fatigued  to 
the  added  strain  of  night  employment.  A  detailed  study  of  book- 
binding in  New  York  City  carried  on  during  the  last  few  years 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  199 

has  just  been  published.*     The  hours  of  labor  were  reported  of 
women  working  in  208  binderies  employing  5,689  women. 

"Few  binderies  (not  more  than  two  or  three),"  says  the 
report,  "  have  regular  night  shifts  for  women  who  begin  work 
in  the  evening  without  having  worked  during  the  day.  In 
a  far  greater  number,  girls  who  work  during  the  day  stay  on 
through  the  night  hours.  *  *  *  Some  of  the  actual  instances 
of  overtime  work  demonstrate  that  the  prescribing  of  a  def- 
inite rest  period  during  definite  hours  of  the  night  is  essential 
to  prevent  the  joining  together  of  two  working  days  at  the 
stroke  of  midnight." 

Thus,  for  instance,  one  girl  of  23  worked  from  8.30  A.  M.  until 
5  :30  the  next  morning. 

"  She  was  employed  to  fill  the  boxes  of  a  gathering  machine 
in  a  magazine  bindery.  She  worked  from  8 :30  A.  M.  until 
5 :30  P.  M.,  with  a  half  hour  at  noon.  She  began  again  at 
6 :30  P.  M.  and  worked  until  midnight.  After  a  recess  of 
thirty  minutes  she  continued  her  day's  task  until  5 :30  A.  M. 
At  the  time  of  this  employment  the  New  York  law  permitted 
a  twelve-hour  day,  and  since  the  employment  of  women  at 
night  was  not  prohibited,  a  working  day  of  twenty-four  hours 
was  legal,  for  with  the  stroke  of  the  clock  at  midnight  a 
twelve-hour  day  ended  and  another  twelve-hour  day  night 
began.  In  the  case  of  this  girl,  not  the  long  hours  of  work, 
but  the  fact  that  fourteen  hours  instead  of  twelve  preceded 
midnight  was  a  violation  of  the  law." 

Under  the  present  fifty-four  hour  law,  which  allows  a  working 
day  of  only  ten  hours,  the  lack  of  a  legal  closing  hour  would  pre- 
sumably allow  the  employment  of  a  woman  ten  hours  before  and 
ten  hours  after  midnight.  This  is  a  stretch  of  twenty  working 
hours,  practically  continuous,  but  falling  on  two  calender  days. 

In  152  cases,  instances  of  illegal  overtime  were  found  among 
the  bindery  workers  in  42  binderies.  In  eighteen  per  cent,  of  these 
cases — almost  one  in  every  five — work  continued  until  10  P.  M.  or 
much  later  at  night,  in  addition  to  the  day's  work. 

"  Several  flagrant  cases  were  included  in  this  last  group. 
One  reported  work  until  12:30  A.  M.  ;  three  until  1 :00  A.  M.  ; 

*  Women  In  the  Bookbinding  Trade,  Chap.  VI;  by  Mary  Van  Kleeck,  Sec- 
retary of  Committee  on  Women's  Work,  Russell  Sage  Foundation,  published  by 
The  Survey  Associates,  Inc.,  New  York,  1912. 


200  REPOKT  OF  COMMISSION. 

two  until  3 :00  A.  M.  ;  one  until  5 :30  A.  M.  ;  one  until  8 :00 
A.  M.  ;  and  one  until  9 :00  A.  M.  In  every  one  of  these  cases 
the  girl  had  gone  to  work  in  the  morning,  had  worked 
through  the  day  and  evening  until  after  midnight. 

"  The  detailed  reports  of  working  days  longer  than  twelve 
hours,"  says  the  report,  "show  appalling  conditions.  These 
hours  represent  actual  working  time,  after  deducting  the 
length  of  noon  hours  and  the  time  allowed  for  supper.  In 
four  positions  the  day  was  1214  hours  long ;  in  seven,  12i/^ ; 
in  three,  12% ;  in  nine,  13 ;  in  one,  131/2 ;  in  two  14 ;  in  two, 
151/2 ;  in  two  16 ;  in  two  18  ;  in  one,  19  y2 ;  in  one,  211/9  ;  and 
in  one,  22." 

The  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor  in  its  report  upon  wage- 
earning  women*  confirms  our  foregoing  assertion  of  the  existence 
of  these  excessive  hours  of  labor  for  women  in  bookbinderies.  In 
one  bookbinding  establishment  in  New  York  City  agents  of  the 
government  found  girls  employed  overtime  from  16  to  241/4  con- 
tinuous hours,  once  and  sometimes  twice  a  week,  during  a  period 
of  from  sixteen  to  twenty-four  weeks. 

The  Commission  found  instances  of  extreme  overtime  work  by 
women  in  the  canneries.  Here  the  employment  of  many  women 
from  the  morning  of  one  day  until  after  midnight,  or  even  until 
dawn  of  the  next  day  is  proved  by  the  employer's  written  records. 

The  time  sheets  of  one  factory  for  July  llth,  12th,  and  13th, 
were  put  in  evidence  at  a  hearing  held  by  the  Commission  at 
Auburn,  !N".  Y.,  on  August  14th,  1912.  This  establishment  packs 
fruits  and  vegetables  and  on  the  busiest  pack  employs  from  150 
to  200  people.  About  75  are  women.  One  of  these  women  was 

a  Mrs.  D. The  overtime  hours,  incredibly  long,  which  she 

worked  were  clearly  proved. 

The  counsel  for  the  Commission  examined  the  manager  of  the 
factory : 

"  Q.  According  to  your  time  sheet  which  you  have  pro- 
duced of  July  10th,  1912,  which  is  Wednesday,  Mrs.  D 

began  work  at  6 :45  in  the  morning  that  day ;  is  that  right  ? 
A.  Yes. 

Q.  And  she  finished  at  2:30  the  following  morning?  A. 
Yes. 

*  Report  on  Condition  of  Woman  and  Child  Wage-earners  in  the  United 
States.  Vol.  V,  p.  205.  Senate  Document  No.  645,  61st  Congress,  2nd  Session, 
1910. 


KEPOKT  OF  COMMISSION.  201 


Q.  Working  19%  hours?  A.  Of  course  she  had  1/2  hour 
out  for  lunch  and  supper  that  we  gave  her." 

******* 

"  Q.  You  produce  the  time  sheet  for  the  date  of  July  11, 
1912,  and  I  find  the  same  Mrs.  D  --  ,  that  is  the  same  one, 
is  it  ?  A.  Yes  ;  16  hours. 

"  And  she  began  that  morning  at  a  quarter  of  seven  and 
stopped  at  12  o'clock,  and  she  began  at  1  o'clock  —  that  was 
her  lunch  hour  ?  A.  Yes  ;  she  had  an  hour  out. 

Q.  You  didn't  pay  for  that  hour  ?    A.  No. 

Q.  Then  she  stopped  at  6  and  started  at  7;  you  didn't 
pay  for  that  hour  ?  A.  No. 

Q.  She  stopped  at  a  quarter  of  one  in  the  morning?  A. 
Yes,  sir. 

Q.  And  she  worked  16  hours  that  day?    A.  Yes." 
*  *  ***** 

"  Have  you  got  July  13,  Mrs.  D  -  ?  She  began  that 
morning,  according  to  your  sheet,  at  a  quarter  to  seven, 
stopped  at  12,  began  at  one  in  the  afternoon  and  stopped 
work  at  6,  stopped  at  6  and  began  at  7  and  worked  until  a 
quarter  of  two  the  following  morning;  17  hours  during  the 
day,  actual  work,  taking  out  at  her  own  expense  one  hour  for 
lunch  and  one  hour  for  supper  ?  A.  Yes." 

Other  women  were  employed  in  the  same  factory  for  hours 
equally  long.  This  fact  was  shown  by  the  employer's  own  time 
sheets.  From  these  it  was  found  that  on  July  llth,  from  among 
55  women  workers,  one-half  (27)  worked  until  after  11  p.  M.,  most 
of  them  continuously  from  6  or  7  A.  M.,  with  an  hour  out  for 
dinner  and  supper  at  their  own  expense.  Of  the  27  women  who 
worked  until  late  at  night, 

15  worked  until  after  11  P.  M., 
2  worked  until  midnight  or  12  :30  A.  M., 
4  worked  until  between  1  and  2  A.  M., 
6  worked  until  2  A.  M.  or  later. 

The  women  who  did  not  finish  until  1  or  2  A.  M.,  were  employed 
from  16  to  17  hours  out  of  the  24. 

The  time  sheets  show  that  on  the  next  day,  July  12th,  the  night 
work  dropped  off  somewhat,  yet  12  women  out  of  the  55  worked 
later  than  10  p.  M. 


202  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

On  the  third  day,  July  13th,  32  or  almost  two-thirds  of  the 
women  worked  late  at  night  again.  23  of  them  worked  until  be- 
tween 1  and  2  A.  M.;  5  of  them  worked  until  between  2  and 
3  A.  M.  On  this  day  again  these  women  were  employed  from  1 6 
to  17  hours. 

Instances  may  be  further  cited  showing  also  the  duration  of 
night  work  done  overtime  in  the  laundries  of  Xew  York  City.  Tn 
February,  1912,  an  inquiry  was  made  by  the  Bureau  of  Media- 
tion and  Arbitration  of  the  New  York  State  Department  of 
Labor  into  the  causes  of  a  strike  of  laundry  employees.  At  a 
number  of  hearings,  these  employees  testified  under  oath  in  regard 
to  their  hours  of  labor.  Testimony  was  given  showing  that  work 
often  continued  until  midnight  and  occasionally  until  1  A.  M. 
The  three  schedules  following,  of  long  weeks  reported  in  the  steno- 
graphic minutes  of  evidence,  while  not  necessarily  typical,  never- 
theless illustrate  to  what  extremes  the  night  work  of  women  in 
laundries  may  be  carried  when  there  is  no  legal  closing  hour : 

Day  Woman  who  has       Woman  who  has       Woman  who  has 

of  worked  two  yrs.         worked  five  yrs.      worked  eleven  yrs. 

week.  in  laundries.  in  laundries.  in  laundries. 

A.   M.     P.   M.  A.  M.     P.  M.  A.  M.      P.  M. 

Monday  .  12—12  12—12  ?—  9 

Tuesday 9—11.30  9—11.30  9—11 

Wednesday 9—9.30  9—9  9—8 

Thursday 9—7  9—7  9—7.30 

Friday 9—6.30  9—6  9—6 

Saturday  

In  many  other  occupations  also  employment  overtime  often 
occurs  until  late  at  night.  This  is  especially  the  case,  although  to  a 
less  degree  than  in  the  binderies  and  laundries,  during  the  fall 
months  in  factories  that  supply  the  Christmas  market,  notably  in 
candy  and  paper  box  manufactories.  Overtime  is  usual  too, 
through  the  wide  ramifications  of  the  clothing  and  stitching  trades, 
and  also  in  dressmaking  and  millinery  establishments. 

THE  DANGER  TO  MORALS 

Besides  the  injuries  to  health  from  the  all  night  shift  and  the 
late  overtime  night  work  of  women,  it  has  universally  been  found 
that  such  work  renders  women  liable  to  unusual  moral  dangers  and 
temptations.  When  women  are  dismissed  in  the  middle  of  the 
night  or  at  dawn,  they  face  the  possibility  of  insult  or  attack  on 
the  streets.  Those,  mor^vec,  who  are  living  away  from  home  find 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  203 

it  difficult  to  obtain  respectable  boarding  places  to  which  they  may 


return  after  midnight. 

THE  PROPOSED  LAW 

The  Commission  recommends  that  night  work  of  women  in 
the  factories  and  workshops  of  this  state  be  at  once  prohibited. 
It  finds  that  such  work  is  unnecessary  from  an  economic  point 
of  view  and  indefensible  from  the  standpoint  of  public  welfare; 
for  it  is  dangerous  to  health,  inimical  to  good  morals,  and  de- 
structive of  the  vitality  of  women  as  wives  and  mothers.  We, 
therefore,  recommend  the  enactment  of  a  new  section  of  the  labor 
law  as  follows: 

§  93-b.  Period  of  rest  at  night  for  women.  In  order  to 
protect  the  health  and  morals  of  females  employed  in  factories 
by  providing  an  adequate  period  of  rest  at  night,  no  woman  shall 
be  employed  or  permitted  to  work  in  any  factory  in  this  state 
before  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  or  after  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening 
of  any  day.* 

We  believe  that  this  bill. meets  the  objections  raised  by  the 
Court  of  Appeals  in  declaring  unconstitutional  that  portion  of 
Section  77  of  the  Labor  Law  (Laws  of  1899,  Chapter  192)  which 
prohibited  the  employment  of  women  in  factories  between  9  p.  M. 
and  6  A.  M.  (People  vs.  Williams,  189  New  York,  131,  decided 
1907).  The  bill  submitted  by  the  Commission  fixes  10  p.  M.  as 
the  closing  hour  and  specifically  states  that  its  purpose  is  to 
promote  health. 

CONSTITUTIONALITY  OF  THE  PROPOSED  BILL 

Two  considerations  of  the  utmost  importance  seem  to  the 
Commission  to  differentiate  the  proposed  bill  from  the  law  of 
1899  which  was  held  to  be  unconstitutional. 

First,  the  decision  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  in 
Mutter  vs.  Oregon^  upholding  the  constitutionality  of  a  ten-hour 
law  for  women  as  a  legitimate  exercise  of  the  police  power,  decided 
in  1908,  one  year  after  the  decision  of  the  New  York  Court  of 
Appeals  in  the  Williams  case. 

•  Bill    15,   Appendix   I. 
t  208  U.   S.,   412. 


204  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

Second,  the  existence  of  many  facts  of  common  knowledge  re- 
garding the  necessity  for  the  prohibition  of  night  work  on  phy- 
sical, moral  and  administrative  grounds, —  arguments  which  were 
not  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  New  York  court  for  its  ju- 
dicial notice  when  it  considered  the  act  of  1899. 

1.     The  Change  in  Judicial  Opinion 

The  decision  in  People  vs.  Williams  was  the  first  and  remains 
the  only  decision  of  any  superior  court  in  the  United  States  to 
pass  upon  the  constitutionality  of  an  act  prohibiting  the  night 
work  of  women. 

The  decision  in  Mutter  vs.  Oregon,  it  is  true,  concerned  solely 
an  act  limiting  the  number  of  hours  of  labor  to  be  performed  by  a 
woman  in  one  day.  The  decision  in  People  vs.  Williams  dealt 
with  a  statute  prohibiting  employment  of  women  before  and  after 
certain  specified  hours.  But  the  opinion  in  the  Muller  case  lays 
down  certain  broad  considerations  of  public  health  and  welfare 
which  apply  with  equal  justice  to  all  limitations  upon  women's 
labor,  be  they  by  night  or  by  day.  -In  rendering  its  decision  in 
the  Williams  case,  the  New  York  court  did  not  have  the  benefit 
of  the  reasoning  in  Muller  vs.  Oregon.  On  the  contrary,  the 
Court  of  Appeals  followed  closely  the  reasoning  of  a  previous 
decision  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  in  Lochner  vs. 
New  York,  decided  in  1905.* 

In  this  well  known  case  the  Federal  Supreme  Court  held  in- 
valid the  New  York  bake  shop  law,  which  limited  the  employ- 
ment of  men  in  bakeries  to  60  hours  in  one  week.  The  court  de- 
clared this  law  to  be  an  unwarranted  interference  with  the  free- 
dom of  contract  guaranteed  by  the  federal  constitution.  This 
reasoning  was  relied  upon  by  the  New  York  Court  of  Appeals  in 
People  vs.  Williams. 

"I  need  only  refer,"  wrote  GKAY,  /.,  for  that  Court 
(p.  136),  "  to  the  recent  case  of  Lochner  vs.  State  of  New 
York  (198  U.  8.,  1J^5),  where  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  had  before  it  a  case  arising  in  this  State  under 
a  provision  of  the  Labor  Law,  which  restricted  the  hours  of 
labor  for  the  employees  of  bakeries." 

*  19g  U.  S.,  145. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  205 

"  The  argument  there  was,  and  it  had  prevailed  in  this 
Court,  that  the  legislation  was  valid  as  a  health  law  under 
the  police  power ;  but  the  Federal  Supreme  Court  refused  to 
recognize  the  force  of  the  argument,  and  held,  if  such  legis- 
lation should  be  justified,  that  the  constitutional  protection 
against  interference  with  the  liberty  of  person  and  the  free- 
dom of  contract  was  a  visionary  thing.  It  was  held  that 
bakers  'are  in  no  sense  wards  of  the  State'  *  *  *  so  I 
think  in  this  case  we  should  say  *  *  *  an  adult  female  is 
in  no  sense  a  ward  of  the  State." 

And  again  GRAY,  /.,  says  even  more  specifically  (p.  135)  : 

«  *  *  *  £n  aduit  female  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  a 
ward  of  the  State,  nor  in  any  other  light  thafi  the  man  is 
regarded,  when  the  question  relates  to  the  business  pursuit 
or  calling."* 

But  since  the  decision  of  the  Lochner  case,  upon  which  Judge 
GRAY'S  argument  was  based,  the  current  of  judicial  opinion  has 
flowed  in  another  channel,  and  in  1908  the  United  States  Su- 
preme Court,  taking  cognizance  of  the  "  world's  experience  on 
which  the  legislation  limiting  the  women's  hours  of  labor  is 
based,"  said  in  the  case  of  Muller  vs.  Oregon,  cited  above : 

"  That  women's  physical  structure  and  the  performance  of 
maternal  functions  places  her  at  a  disadvantage  in  the  strug- 
gle for  subsistence  is  obvious,"  said  the  Court  (p.  421). 

"  The  two  sexes  differ  in  structure  of  body,  in  the  func- 
tions to  be  performed  by  each,  in  the  amount  of  physical 
strength,  in  the  capacity  for  long  continued  labor,  particu- 
larly when  done  standing,  the  influence  of  vigorous  health 
upon  the  future  well-being  of  the  race,  the  self  reliance 
which  enables  one  to  assert  full  rights,  and  in  the  capacity 
to  maintain  the  struggle  for  subsistence.  This  difference 
justifies  a  difference  in  legislation  and  upholds  that  which  is 
designed  to  compensate  for  some  of  the  burdens  which  rest 
upon  her"  (p.  422). 

This,  then,  is  the  decision  of  the  highest  tribunal  of  the  country 
concerning  the  relation  between  the  employment  of  women  and 
the  public  welfare.  It  is  fair  to  presume  that  this  reasoning 
would  be  followed  by  the  New  York  Court  of  Appeals  if  it  again 

*  Italics  are  ours. 


206  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION". 

bad  an  opportunity  to  pass  upon  the  constitutionality  of  any  law 
affecting  hours  of  women  by  night  or  by  day. 

It  is  significant  that  since  Mnllcr  vs.  Oregon  was  decided,  the 
Supreme  Courts  of  five  great  states,  Illinois,  ^Michigan,  Ohio, 
Washington  and  California,  have  upheld  laws  limiting  a  woman's 
hours  of  labor.*  Indeed,  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois,  in 
Bitchie  vs.  Way  man,  decided  in  1910,  completely  reversed  a  prior 
decision  overthrowing  the  validity  of  an  Illinois  eight-hour  law. 
The  court,  in  sustaining  a  new  ten-hour  law,  was  not  deterred, 
as  the  same  court  had  been  fourteen  years  before  (Ritchie  vs.  The 
People,  155  III.,  198  decided  1895)  by  the  theory  of  freedom  of 
contract. 

All  that  body  of  "  general  knowledge  "  concerning  the  ill  effects 
of  the  overwork  of  women,  of  which  the  Federal  Supreme  Court 
had  taken  judicial  cognizance,  was  again  admitted  to  carry  its  due 
weight,  the  Illinois  court  remarking: 

"  What  we  know  as  men  we  cannot  profess  to  be  ignorant 
of  as  judges." 

The  "  Facts  of  Common  Knowledge  "  Concerning  Night  Work. 

The  Commission  supports  the  proposed  bill  not  only  by  this 
convincing  array  of  judicial  decisions,  without  a  single  adverse 
opinion  since  the  decision  of  Mutter  vs.  Oregon,  but  also  by 
"  facts  of  common  knowledge  "  regarding  night  work,  proving  its 
ill  effects  to  working  women,  and  to  the  community  of  which  they 
are  a  part.  These  facts  are  physical,  moral,  and  administrative. 

The  dangers  to  health  and  morals  have  already  been  recounted 
in  connection  with  the  cases  of  night  work  discovered  by  agents 
of  the  Commission  and  other  investigators.  These  facts  seem 
to  the  Commission  to  meet  the  criticism  of  Judge  GRAY,  who  said 
of  the  previous  night  work  law,  in  his  opinion  in  the  Williams 
case  (p.  134)  : 

"  I  find  nothing  in  the  language  of  the  section  which  sug- 
gests the  purpose  of  promoting  health,  except  as  it  might  be 
inferred  that  for  a  woman  to  work  through  the  forbidden 
hours  of  the  night  would  be  unhealthful." 

*  111.  act  of  1909  held  constitutional,  Ritchie  vs.  Wayman,  244  111.,  509;  the  111. 
act  of  1911  held  constitutional,  People  vs.  Eldering,  98  Northeastern  Rep.,  982; 
Wither  vs.  Bloem.  1<53  Mich.,  419;  ex  parte  Hawley,  98  N.  E.  Rep.,  1126;  State  vs. 
Somerville  122  Pacific  Rep..  324;  Matter  of  Miller,  124  Pacific  Rep.,  427. 


REPOKT  OF  COMMISSION.  207 

The  law  proposed  by  the  Commission  explicitly  states  that  it 
is  designed  to  protect  the  health  and  morals  of  women  employed 
in  factories,  by  providing  an  adequate  period  of  rest  at  night. 
That  the  closing  hour  has  been  fixed  at  ten  o'clock  instead  of  at 
nine  o'clock  as  in  the  old  law,  clearly  shows  that  the  purpose  of 
the  proposed  law  is  to  promote  health.  Moreover,  the  facts  re- 
ferred to  in  this  report  prove  that  it  is  unhealthful  for  a  woman  to 
work  during  the  forbidden  hours  of  the  night,  and  make  plain 
the  need  of  prohibiting  night  work,  as  a  health  measure. 

The  prohibition  of  night  work  by  women  is  not  a  new  subject 
of  discussion.  In  fact,  the  United  States  is  the  only  great  country 
having  labor  laws  for  women  in  which  the  prohibition  of  night 
work  is  not  an  important  part  of  such  laws.  In  the  very  first 
legislation  to  protect  women  from  overwork,  enacted  in  England 
in  1844,  fixed  opening  and  closing  hours  were  set,  before  and 
after  which  work  was  prohibited.  Through  nearly  a  century 
which  has  since  elapsed,  the  prohibition  of  women's  night  work 
has  gone  hand  in  hand  in  all  European  countries  with  the  re- 
duction of  the  length  of  the  day's  work,  and  a  legal  closing  hour 
has  been  found  an  essential  part  of  effective  laws,  necessary  not 
only  to  protect  health  and  morals,  but  also  to  assist  in  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  daily  limitation  of  hours  of  work.* 

For  many  years  international  action  was  urged  to  secure  a 
uniform  prohibition  for  women's  night  work.  After  twenty-five 
years  of  effort,  representatives  of  fourteen  European  powers  as- 
sembled at  Berne,  Switzerland,  December  26,  1906,  in  response 
to  an  invitation  from  the  Swiss  Federal  Council.  These  countries 
were  Austria-Hungary,  Belgium,  Denmark,  France,  Germany, 
Great  Britain,  Italy,  Luxemberg,  Portugal,  Spain,  Sweden,  Swit- 
zerland, and  the  Netherlands.  An  international  agreement  or 
convention  was  submitted  to  this  conference.  This  was  to  bind 
the  contracting  states  to  prohibit  the  industrial  night  work  of 
women  without  distinction  of  age.  A  minimum  period  of  eleven 
consecutive  hours  was  set  for  the  duration  of  the  night  rest,  to  in- 
clude the  time  between  10  p.  M.  and  5  A.  M.  in  all  cases.  Only 
two  exceptions  permitting  night  work  were  admitted:  first,  in  case 
of  the  interruption  of  work  by  causes  beyond  the  employer's  con- 

*  Fatigue  and  Efficiency:  A  Study  in  Industry.  Bv  Josephine  Goldmark, 
pp.  216-222;  Charities  Publication  Committee  N.  T.,  1912. 


208  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

trol,  frequently  described,  as  "  the  act  of  God  " ;  second,  to  save 
raw  material*  liable  to  rapid  deterioration.  A  slight  modification 
in  favor  of  the  seasonal  industries  was  made  by  reserving  the 
right  to  reduce  the  length  of  the  night  rest  from  eleven  to  ten 
hours  during  sixty  days  of  the  year.  Xo  other  concessions  were 
made. 

By  January  14,  1910,  all  the  participating  states,  excepting 
Spain  and  Denmark  had  ratified  the  convention. 

The  United  States  could  not  take  part  in  the  Berne  convention 
since  the  federal  government  cannot  bind  the  separate  states  to 
enact  legislation  restricting  hours  of  labor.  Hence  the  initiative 
is  left  solely  to  the  action  of  the  states  themselves. 

THE  NEED  OF  LEGAL  CLOSING  AND  OPENING  HOURS  TO  ASSIST 

ENFORCEMENT 

The  examples  of  work,  after  and  in  addition  to  the  day's  em- 
ployment, given  above,  show  that  the  legal  closing  hour  is  neces- 
sary not  only  to  provide  an  adequate  rest  period  at  night  to  protect 
the  health  and  morals  of  working  women,  but  also  to  control  over- 
time work  and  thus  to  make  possible  the  enforcement  of  the  limi- 
tation of  hours  per  day.  The  two  things  are  practically  insepa- 
rable. Unless  the  inspectors  remain  on  the  premises  from  start  to 
finish,  which  is  practically  impossible,  they  cannot  know  the  num- 
ber of  hours  worked ;  and  for  various  obvious  reasons,  when  the 
law  has  been  violated,  the  statements  of  neither  employers  nor  em- 
ployees can  be  relied  on.  But  when  definite  hours  are  set  before 
and  after  which  work  is  illegal,  a  single  inspection  suffices  to  prove 
a  violation. 

The  Report  of  the  Federal  Government  states  after  detailed 
study  of  the  question  :f 

"  The  indications  are  strong  enough  to  warrant  the  conclu- 
sion that  overtime  runs  to  dangerous  limits  in  *  *  *  man- 
ufacturing establishments  in  the  absence  of  restrictive  laws 
not  only  setting  definitely  a  limit  to  the  hours  of  labor  per 
day  and  per  week,  but  fixing  the  closing  hours." 

*  This  contingency  has  been  regulated  by  special  acts  In  various  European 
countries.  Thus  in  England,  since  1907,  work  is  prohibited  after  10  P.  M.  on 
such  perishable  material. 

t  Report  on  Condition  of  Woman  and  Child  Wage  Earners  in  the  United 
States.  Senate  Document  No.  645,  61st  Congress,  2nd  Session,  1910.  Vol.  V,  p.  215. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  209 

It  appears  from  the  opinion  of  Judge  GKAY  in  People  vs.  Wil- 
liams, that  the  Court  might  have  considered  the  night  work  law 
valid  if  it  had  seemed  to  them  to  prohibit  overtime  work,  after 
and  in  addition  to  the  regular  day's  work. 

The  prohibition  of  all  work  between  9  p.  M.  and  6  A.  M.  did  not 
seem  to  them  a  legitimate  exercise  of  the  police  power,  because 
under  such  prohibition: 

"An  adult  woman  *  *  *  cannot  be  employed,  or  con- 
tract to  work,  in  any  period  for  any  length  of  time,  no 
matter  how  short,  if  it  is  within  the  prohibited  hours." 

But  universal  experience,  the  facts  of  which  have  in  great  part 
been  recorded  and  published  since  the  decision  in  the  Williams 
case,  proves  that  the  fixed  closing  hour,  after  which  all  employment 
is  prohibited,  is  the  only  known  device  to  check  late  overtime 
work  continued  into  the  night.  The  Court  of  Appeals  specifically 
said,  in  the  Williams  case,  that  if  the  intention  to  check  such  late 
overtime  work  had  been  clear  the  Court  might  consider  this  more 
properly  "  a  matter  of  legislative  concern."  Indeed,  before  the 
Williams  case  reached  the  highest  court  of  New  York,  the  Justices 
of  the  Appellate  Division  of  the  Supreme  Court  had  been  divided 
in  opinion  (116  App.  Div.,  379).  Two  of  the  five  judges  handed 
down  minority  opinions,  expressing  their  belief  that  the  entire 
provision  of  the  labor  law  relating  to  the  hours  of  labor  for  women, 
including  the  prohibition  of  nightwork,  was  within  the  police 
power  of  the  state,  and  therefore  valid.  They  apparently  saw  no 
reason  for  differentiating  the  provision  which  prohibited  night 
work  from  the  other  provisions  establishing  a  ten-hour  day  and 
sixty-hour  week,  the  constitutionality  of  which  was  not  questioned. 
In  his  minority  opinion,  Mr.  Justice  HOUGHTON  said:* 

"I  think  the  act  limiting  the  hours  and  times  of  day  in 
which  women  may  work  in  factories  *  *  *  is  a  valid  exer- 
cise of  the  police  power  for  the  preservation  of  the  public 
health."  *  *  *  (p.  381). 

"  The  purpose  of  the  statute  is  to  prohibit  women  working 
in  factories  more  than  60  hours  in  any  one  week,  and  pre- 
sumably unhealthful  hours,  and  to  that  end  it  prescribes  that 
they  shall  not  work  before  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and 

*  Italics  ours. 

14 


210  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

after  nine  o'clock  at  night,  and  no  more  than  ten  hours  in 
any  one  day."  *  *  *  (p.  381). 

"  Constant  night  work  is  unhealthful  for  men  and  more 
so  for  women.  *  *  *  Excessive  labor  of  an  automatic  char- 
acter such  as  most  factory  work  finally  assumes,  tends  to 
dull  the  mental  and  moral  perceptions  and  leads  to  degrading 
recreations,  especially  when  work  ceases  at  any  unseemly 
hour  of  the  night"  (p.  384) • 

"  The  legislature  has  deemed  that  if  she  (a  woman)  be 
continuously  employed  in  the  same  service  in  a  factory  more 
than  a  certain  number  of  hours  per  day  or  week,  or  during 
the  night  time,  her  health  would  be  likely  to  be  injured." 
(p.  384). 

In  this  opinion  Mr.  Justice  INGRAHAM  concurred,  saying  of  the 
provision  in  its  entirety: 

"Regulation  by  the  legislature  as  to  the  hours  of  labor 
by  women  when  engaged  in  such  work  as  would  have  a 
tendency  to  impair  their  health  is,  I  think,  within  the  power 
of  the  legislature  and  comes  fairly  within  the  police  power 
of  the  State  as  relating  to  f  the  safety,  health,  morals  and 
general  welfare  of  the  public.' ':  (p.  886). 

That  the  state  has  the  right  to  fix  closing  hours  in  order  to  en- 
force its  requirement  for  the  limitation  of  the  hours  of  labor  for 
women  seems  clearly  established  by  a  recent  decision  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court  m,Purity  Co.  vs.  Lynch  (226  U.  S.,  192). 
In  that  case  Mr.  Justice  Hughes,  delivering  the  opinion  said : 

"  It  is  also  well  established  that,  when  a  state  exerting  its 
recognized  authority,  undertakes  to  suppress  what  it  is  free 
to  regard  as  a  public  evil,  it  may  adopt  such  measures  having 
reasonable  relation  to  that  end  as  it  may  deem  necessary  in 
order  to  make  its  action  effective.  It  does  not  follow  that 
because  a  transaction  separately  considered,  is  innocuous,  it 
may  not  be  included  in  a  prohibition  the  scope  of  which  is 
regarded  as  essential  in  the  legislative  judgment  to  accom- 
plish a  purpose  within  the  admitted  power  of  the  government. 
With  the  wisdom  of  the  exercise  of  that  judgment  the  court 
has  no  concern ;  and  unless  it  clearly  appears  that  the  enact- 
ment has  no  substantial  relation  to  a  proper  purpose,  it  can- 
not be  said  that  the  limit  of  legislative  power  has  been 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  211 

transcended.  To  hold  otherwise  would  be  to  substitute  judi- 
cial opinion  of  expediency  for  the  will  of  the  legislature  — 
a  notion  foreign  to  our  constitutional  system." 

The  history  of  the  night  work  law  in  Xew  York  State  shows 
that  thirty-five  years  ago  the  legal  closing  hour  and  the  prohibition 
of  night  work  was  thought  imperative  to  assist  in  the  enforcement 
of  the  ten-hour  day  by  those  most  conversant  with  the  circum- 
stances,— the  factory  inspectors. 

In  1886  the  Legislature  of  New  York  State  had  passed  its  first 
factory  law  providing  that  no  women  under  twenty-one  years 
might  be  employed  more  than  sixty  hours  in  any  one  week,  unless 
for  the  purpose  of  making  necessary  repairs.  The  employment  of 
any  child  under  thirteen  years  was  prohibited. 

In  their  annual  report  for  1887  the  factory  inspectors  pointed 
out  the  dangers  to  health  and  to  output  from  excessive  overtime 
work  and  urged  the  establishment  of  a  legal  closing  hour. 

"  An  inquiry  among  those  females  above  the  statutory  age, 
who  worked  twelve  and  fifteen  hours  a  day  in  printing  offices, 
candy  factories,  woolen  mills  and  other  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments," said  the  factory  inspector's  report,  "elicited  the 
information  that  the  women  who  labor  these  long  hours  were 
more  subject  to  fits  of  nervous  prostration  and  debility  than 
those  who  worked  the  normal  day  of  ten  hours,  and  as  a 
rule  they  would  not  have  so  much  working  time  to  their 
credit  as  those  who  were  not  so  over-worked." 

To  remedy  these  evils  the  factory  inspectors  recommended  that 
the  employment  of  women  at  night,  irrespective  of  age,  be  pro- 
hibited after  9  P.  M.  The  recommendation  was  not,  however, 
followed. 

In  1889  a  first  step  in  this  direction  was  taken  by  prohibiting 
the  night  work  of  women  under  twenty-one  years  between  9  P.  M. 
and  6  A.  M.  Employment  of  women  under  twenty-one  years  was 
also  prohibited  for  more  than  ten  hours  in  one  day,  except  for  the 
purpose  of  shortening  the  hours  of  work  on  Saturday. 

Ten  years  later,  in  1899,  by  a  single  act,  all  of  these  pro- 
visions of  the  law  were  extended  to  all  women,  irrespective  of  age. 

The  enforcement  of  the  night  work  law  remained  more  or  less 
of  a  dead-letter  for  the  following  seven  years.  In  1907  the  de- 


212  REPOBT  OF  COMMISSION. 

cision  in  the  Williams  case  removed  the  law  from  the  statute 
books. 

Now,  after  the  lapse  of  five  years,  the  Commission  believes  that 
the  time  has  come  to  enact  a  new  law.  The  decision  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court  in  the  Muller  case  has  changed  the  whole 
trend  of  judicial  opinion  regarding  legislation  limiting  women's 
hours  of  labor. 

SUMMARY 

The  available  facts,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Commission  justify 
the  enactment  of  a  new  law  for  the  two  reasons  emphasized  above : 

First,  because  an  adequate  period  of  rest  at  night  is 
essential  for  the  health  of  women  employed  in  manufacture. 

Second,  because  the  provision  of  legal  closing  and  open- 
ing hours  is  the  only  effective  method  of  enforcing  the 
limitation  of  hours. 

The  proposed  law  is  a  moderate  measure.  It  is  most  fair  and 
reasonable  to  all  concerned.  It  provides  that  women  employed  in 
factories  shall  have  a  period  of  rest  at  night  between  10  p.  M.  and 
6  A.  M.  It  thus  allows  a  stretch  of  16  hours — from  6  o'clock  in 
the  morning  until  10  o'clock  at  night — during  which  the  10  hours 
of  daily  labor  permissible  by  law  may  be  performed.  Early  even- 
ing work  is  not  curtailed,  but  the  excessive  overtime,  extending 
as  has  been  shown,  until  long  after  10  P.  M.  is  confined  to  more 
reasonable  limits.  The  dangerous  all  night  shift  is  prohibited. 

No  legitimate  industry  will  suffer  from  this  measure,  urgently 
needed  to  protect  the  health  of  the  workers  and  to  assist  the 
factory  inspectors  in  the  difficult  task  of  enforcement. 

No  objections  to  the  proposed  measure  have  been  received  from 
any  source  although  the  bill  has  been  widely  distributed.  On 
the  contrary  the  purpose  of  the  bill  has  been  commended  by 
physicians,  by  manufacturers  and  by  all  those  having  the  best 
interests  of  the  state  at  heart. 

In  enacting  the  proposed  bill,  the  state  of  New  York  will  not 
be  taking  a  new  and  untried  step.  It  will  be  taking  its  place 
among  the  enlightened  nations  of  the  world,  and  will  join  the 
other  three  states,  Massachusetts,  Indiana,  and  Nebraska,  which 
now  provide  by  law  a  period  of  rest  at  night  for  working  women. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  213 

WOMEN'S  WORK  GENERALLY 

SEATS 

The  continual  standing  of  women  in  factories  and  manufactur- 
ing establishments  is  one  of  the  worst  features  of  a  large  part 
of  their  work.  Women  are  required  to  stand  in  candy  factories, 
laundries,  textile  mills  and  printing  shops  for  hours  at  a  time 
and  often  for  the  entire  day.  The  effects  of  continual  standing 
upon  the  female  organism  are  grave.  Much  of  this  standing  is 
unnecessary.  A  great  deal  of  the  work  could  very  readily  be 
carried  on  in  a  sitting  posture.  We  therefore  recommend  the 
following  amendment  to  section  17  of  the  labor  law: 

Where  females  are  engaged,  in  work  which  can  be  prop- 
erly performed  in  a  sitting  posture,  suitable  seats,  with  backs 
where  practicable,  shall  be  supplied  in  every  factory  for  the 
use  of  all  such  female  employees  and  permitted  to  be  used 
at  such  work.  The  industrial  board  may  make  rules  and 
regulations  prescribing  the  number  and  kind  of  seats  that 
shall  be  provided  and  the  use  thereof* 

TIME  BOOK 

The  keeping  of  correct  time  books  showing  the  hours  of  labor 
of  women  employees,  is  of  considerable  aid  ,in  the  enforcement 
of  the  law.  Since  1907  the  New  York  law  has  required  that 
under  certain  circumstances  the  employers  shall  keep  a  time  book 
showing  the  hours  worked  daily  by  each  woman  employee. f 

Our  investigations  showed  that  such  time  books  were  not  cor- 
rectly kept.  In  one  cannery  the  Commission  visited,  the  time 
books  were  so  kept  as  to  show  an  apparent  compliance  with  the 
requirements  of  the  Labor  Law.  All  hours  worked  beyond  the 

*  Bill   16,  Appendix   I. 

t  N.  Y.  Labor  Law,  Section  77,  Subdivision  5.  In  a  factory  wherein,  owing 
to  the  nature  of  the  work,  it  is  practically  impossible  to  fix  the  hours  of  labor 
weekly  in  advance  the  commissioner  of  labor,  upon  a  proper  application  stating 
facts  showing  the  necessity  therefor,  shall  grant  a  permit  dispensing  with  the 
notice  hereinbefore  required,  upon  condition  that  the  dally  hours  of  labor  be 
posted  for  the  information  of  employees  and  that  a  time  book  in  a  form  to  be 
approved  by  him,  giving  the  names  and  addresses  of  all  female  employees,  and 
the  hours  worked  by  each  In  each  day,  shall  be  properly  and  correctly  kept,  and 
shall  be  exhibited  to  him  or  any  of  his  subordinates  promptly  upon  demand. 
Such  permit  shall  be  kept  posted  in  such  place  in  such  factory  as  such  com- 
missioner may  prescribe,  and  may  be  revoked  by  such  commissioner  at  any 
time  for  failure  to  post  It  or  the  daily  hours  of  labor  or  to  keep  or  exhibit  such 
time  book  as  herein  provided. 


214  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

legal  60  hours  were  separately  and  privately  kept,  and  were  not 
supposed  to  be  seen  by  the  factory  inspectors.  The  Commission 
learned  the  real  hours  worked  from  what  the  employer  at  the 
hearing  called,  "  The  daily  time  sheets,  or  a  sort  of  a  cash  book 
that  shows  the  total  payroll  for  each  week."  Thus  on 
the  day  that  Mrs.  D,  according  to  the  actual  payroll  or  time 
sheets,  worked  19%  hours,  her  time  was  set  down  in  the  official 
time  book  as  Sy2  hours. 

The  following  is  from  the  testimony  taken  by  the  Commission 
at  the  cannery: 

"  Q.  Why  does  it  appear  in  your  time  book,  Mr. , 

that  she  only  worked  8^2  hours  on  Wednesday  when,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  your  time  sheet  shows  she  worked  19% 
hours  ? " 

With  interesting  frankness,  the  manager  answered: 

"  That  is  for  the  reason  of  keeping  our  record  as  near  as 
possible  to  the  sixty  hours  law. 

Q.  That  shows  that  you  could  only  add  8^2  hours  to  what 
she  had  already  done  in  the  preceding  three  days  to  make 
up  sixty  hours  for  the  week  ?  A.  That  is  the  idea." 

And  again: 

"  Q.  These  time  sheets  you  have  produced,  Mr. ,  of 

July  10th,  llth,  and  12th  and  13th,  those  sheets  show  the 
actual  number  of  hours  of  each  one  of  the  employees  named 
therein  who  worked?  A.  Yes;  that  is  all  there  is  to  it; 
that  is  all. 

Q.  And  the  time  book  proper  which  you  have  shown  me 
is  an  incorrect  book.  A.  The  time  book  proper  shows  they 
only  worked  60  hours,  and  on  that  page  shows  the  overtime. 

By  Senator  Wagner: 

Q.  Purposely  so  arranged,  wasn't  it?  A.  It  was;  yes, 
it  was. 

Q.  To  show  an  apparent  observance  of  the  law;  is  that 
right  ?  A.  That  is  the  idea." 

***** 

"  Q.  Don't  you  know  you  are  breaking  the  law  by  that  ? 
A.  I  admit  it  was  an  infringement  of  the  strict  meaning  of 
that  law,  the  intention  of  that  law. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION".  215 

Q.  Wasn't  it  meant  to  fool  the  factory  inspector  ?     A.  Yes, 
it  was." 

This  striking  example  shows  that  the  law  should  be  amended 
so  that  such  false  entries  may  be  punishable  by  law.  If  the 
time  book  is  to  be  of  value  in  assisting  the  factory  inspectors  to 
enforce  the  law,  it  must  be  reliable  and  give  the  actual  hours 
worked. 

We  therefore  recommend  that  the  making  of  any  false  entries 
or  statements  in  a  time  book  kept  pursuant  to  sub.  5  of  Section  77 
(quoted,  supra},  shall  be  punishable  as  a  misdemeanor. 

HOURS  OF  LABOR 

In  investigating  the  conditions  under  which  women  work  in  the 
state,  the  Commission  has  found  that  the  intensity  of  the  work 
is  ever  increasing.  The  complexity  of  modern  machinery,  with 
the  development  of  the  system  of  paying  by  the  piece,  has  added 
a  special  strain  upon  all  workers  who  are  forced  to  a  tremendous 
speed.  This  strain  is  physical  as  well  as  nervous  and  an  especial 
burden  upon  women,  the  large  majority  of  whom  are  young  and 
have  not  reached  their  maturity. 

How  this  strain  is  to  be  lightened  and  the  most  effective  way 
is  still  a  problem.  The  goal  of  working  people  themselves  through- 
out the  world  is  the  eight-hour  day.  Eight  hours  is  a  daily  period 
which  many  communities  —  city,  state  or  national,  as  model  em- 
ployers —  set  for  the  labor  of  adult  men  in  their  employ.  It 
may  not  be  feasible  at  this  time  to  put  this  limit  in  practice  for 
women  in  private  employment,  yet  it  is  the  recognized  goal  for 
ordinary  industrial  occupations.  Even  the  eight-hour  day  in- 
volves, with  the  noon  hour  and  the  journey  to  and  from  work  in 
most  instances,  ten  hours'  absence  from  home.  The  Commission 
believes,  however,  that  the  manufacturers  of  the  state  should  be 
given  an  opportunity  to  readjust  their  work  on  the  basis  of  the 
54-hour  law  before  any  further  legislation  is  had. 


216  REPOBT  OF  COMMISSION. 

VII. 
BAKERIES 

The  Commission  conducted  in  1911  a  special  investigation  into 
conditions  in  bakeries,  the  results  of  which  are  set  forth  in  detail 
in  Appendix  III  of  the  Commission's  Preliminary  Report. 

Under  the  supervision  of  Dr.  George  M.  Price  who  was  as- 
sisted by  a  corps  of  inspectors,  485  bakeries  were  inspected  in 
New  York  City  and  Yonkers. 

Of  the  bakeries  inspected  479  were  cellar  bakeries.  In  con- 
junction with  the  sanitary  investigation  the  Commission  engaged 
a  staff  of  physicians  who  made  physical  examinations  of  800 
bakers. 

In  1912  about  125  bakeries  were  inspected  in  different  cities 
of  the  state. 

GENERAL  CONDITIONS 

There  are  few  industries  so 'closely  related  to  the  public  health 
as  is  that  of  bread  making.  This  industry,  therefore,  should  be 
carried  on  under  the  most  sanitary  conditions  and  with  the 
highest  •  regard  for  cleanliness.  We  were  surprised  by  the  results 
of  the  investigations  conducted. 

In  the  majority  of  the  bakeries,  the  walls,  ceilings,  and  floors 
were  unclean.  In  109  'of  the  bakeries  inspected,  toilets  were 
immediately  in  the  bakeshop,  and  eighty-six  of  these  toilets  were 
characterized  by  the  inspectors  as  very  "  filthy."  The  utensils 
found  in  the  bakeries  such  as  vats,  pans,  and  mixing-boards, 
were  in  a  very  dirty  condition;  they  invariably  looked  as  if  they 
had  never  been  cleansed.  The  ventilation  in  most  cases  was 
poor,  and  the  lighting  inadequate.  There  were  171  bakeries 
which  had  no  windows  at  all. 

In  most  of  the  bakeries  no  provision  was  made  for  the  disposal 
of  the  street  clothes  of  the  bakers.  Their  clothing  was  placed 
upon  tables  and  walls  in  close  proximity  to  the  bread  and  pastry 
products.  Many  bakers  were  found  working  in  their  ordinary 
clothes  or  underwear.  Personal  cleanliness  of  the  bakers  was  the 
exception  rather  than  the  rule.  The  practice  of  sleeping  in  the 
bakeries  was  found  to  be  very  prevalent  among  the  workers. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  217 

The  results  of  the  physical  examination  of  bakers  were  equally 
surprising.  Of  the  800  bakers,  19  were  found  suffering  from 
tuberculosis  (including  suspected  cases),  177  from  bronchial  dis- 
eases, 3  from  venereal  disease,  and  45  from  skin  diseases. 

It  is  inconceivable  that  such  conditions  should  be  permitted 
to  exist  in  an  industry  in  which  the  public  is  so  directly  con- 
cerned. These  filthy  conditions  are  not  only  a  menace  to  public 
health,  but  their  existence  is  manifestly  unfair  to  the  proprietors 
of  numerous  other  bakeries  in  which  every  effort  is  made  to  main- 
tain cleanliness  and  purity.  It  has  well  been  said  that  a  dirty 
bakery  is  a  menace  to  the  entire  trade. 

THE  EXTENT  OF  THE  INDUSTRY 

The  bakery  industry  in  New  York  State  is  an  important  one. 
The  census  of  1910  showed  that  in  1909  there  were  2,962  bakeries 
in  the  state  of  New  York  employing  13,676  workers.  That 
number  has  since  then  been  increased  considerably.  Of  these 
bakeries  2,498  were  in  New  York  City. 

PRESENT  JURISDICTION  OVER  BAKERIES 

The  Department  of  Labor  by  Article  VIII  of  the  labor  law 
is  given  power  to  inspect  bakeries  and  to  enforce  certain  sanitary 
requirements  therein.  The  sanitary  codes  in  all  of  the  larger 
cities  of  the  state  confer  jurisdiction  over  bakeries  expressly  or 
by  implication  upon  the  local  boards  of  health.  The  result  is 
that  we  often  have  in  one  city,  two  departments,  one  a  city  de- 
partment and  the  other  a  state  department  exercising  concurrent 
jurisdiction  over  conditions  in  bakeries.  There  is  in  this  way 
a  confusion  of  duties  with  the  usual  result  —  a  shifting  of  •  re- 
sponsibility. This,  in  our  opinion,  accounts  for  many  of  the  un- 
sanitary conditions  that  we  found.  There  is  no  co-operation 
between  these  two  departments  in  any  city.  Neither  department 
is  sufficiently  equipped  to  make  frequently  a  systematic  inspection 
of  the  bakeries  under  its  charge  or  promptly  and  effectively  to 
enforce  the  prohibition  of  unclean  and  unsanitary  conditions. 
The  Department  of  Labor,  working  with  an  inadequate  force  of 
inspectors,  can  inspect  a  bakery  only  about  once  a  year. 


218  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

PROPOSED  CHANGE  IN  JURISDICTION 

The  cities  of  the  first  class  of  the  state,  New  York,  Buffalo, 
and  Rochester,  have  well  organized  departments  of  health  with 
special  divisions  for  food  inspection.  Sole  jurisdiction  over 
bakeries,  in  our  opinion,  should  be  given  to  these  departments  and 
they  alone  should  be  held  responsible  for  conditions  in  them. 

This  change  would  in  every  case  fix  definitely  in  one  department 
the  responsibility  for  sanitary  conditions  in  bakeries;  that  is,  in 
the  local  departments  of  heath  in  cities  of  the  first  class  and  in 
the  Department  of  Labor  throughout  the  rest  of  the  state. 

Arguments  for  making  the  local  health  department  in  cities 
of  the  first  class  solely  responsible  for  conditions  in  bakeries  are 
many.  The  change  will  obviate  dual  jurisdiction  and  dual  re- 
sponsibility. It  will  do  away  with  the  double  inspection  that 
results  so  frequently  in  conflicting  orders,  and  no  results.  The 
departments  of  health  in  the  larger  cities  are  already  doing  part 
of  this  work  but  have  practically  no  responsibility.  There  is  no 
reason  why  they  should  not  do  all  of  the  ,work  and  be  made 
strictly  accountable  for  sanitary  conditions.  The  Department  of 
Labor  relieved  by  this  transfer  of  duties  will  then  be  able  to  de- 
vote all  its  energies  to  general  factory  inspection  in  those  cities. 
Although  the  state  department  would  still  have  jurisdiction  over 
the  safeguarding  of  machinery  in  bakeries  and  the  employment 
of  women  and  minors  therein,  its  supervision  would  be  confined 
mainly  to  the  larger  establishments  which  are  very  few  in  number. 

The  law  should  specify  for  sanitary  and  structural  conditions 
in  bakeries  the  minimum  requirements  which  the  local  depart- 
ments of  health  in  cities  of  the  first  class  must  enforce,  and  should 
give  to  those  cities  power  to  incorporate  detailed  rules  and  regu- 
lations in  their  sanitary  codes. 

SANITARY  CERTIFICATE 

Having  definitely  fixed  the  responsibility  for  sanitary  conditions 
in  bakeries,  in  one  department,  we  must  then  determine  by  what 
method  conditions  in  bakeries  can  best  be  controlled  by  the  re- 
sponsible authority. 

Experience  has  shown  that  conditions  in  establishments  which 
are  liable  to  become  a  public  nuisance  in  one  way  or  another  can 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  219 

best  be  controlled  if  those  establishments  are  required  to  obtain 
some  kind  of  permit  before  they  are  allowed  to  operate. 

There  are  a  number  of  industries  to  which  the  principle  of 
state  or  municipal  licensing  has  already  been  applied.  These 
industries  have  features  which  make  their  control  necessary  in 
the  interest  of  public  health  and  safety.  They  are  either  danger- 
ous to  life  because  of  intrinsic  perils  in  materials  and  processes, 
as  for  example  in  the  manufacture  of  explosives,  or  they  are  such 
as  may  become  a  nuisance  to  neighbors,  as  ,in  the  keeping  of 
stables,  or  they  are  occupations  that  bear  directly  on  the  public 
health,  as  is  true  of  the  plumbing. trade,  the  dairy  industry,  and 
slaughter  houses. 

In  this  class  of  licensed  occupations  the  bread-making  industry 
clearly  belongs,  for  it  is  closely  related  to  public  health.  To  apply 
this  principle  to  all  of  the  bakeries  in  the  state  is  the  immediate 
step  in  remedial  legislation.  It  is  a  public  health  measure  for 
which  the  trade,  the  workers,  and  the  entire  public  are  ready, 
and  which  they  are  anxious  to  see  an  accomplished  fact. 

There  has  been  much  discussion  as  to  what  form  the  licensing 
should  take  and  what  name  should  be  applied  to  a  permit  to 
allow  a  bakery  to  operate.  Questions  of  form,  however,  are  of 
very  little  consequence  provided  that  the  required  results  be 
obtained. 

We  believe  that  the  desired  control  over  conditions  in  bakeries 
can  be  secured  if  a  bakery  before  it  is  permitted  to  operate,  shall 
be  required  to  obtain  a  sanitary  certificate,  in  cities  of  the  first 
class  from  the  local  health  department,  and  in  the  rest  of  the 
state  from  the  Department  of  Labor.  This  sanitary  certificate 
should  be  granted  only  after  a  thorough  inspection  showed  that 
the  bakeshop  conformed  in  all  respects  to  the  requirements  of  the 
statute  and  to  the  rules  and  regulations  adopted  under  it,  and 
the  certificate  should  be  revoked  in  case  of  failure  to  observe  these 
requirements. 

This  recommendation  meets  with  the  approval  of  all  of  the 
employers  and  workers  in  the  industry  who  appeared  before  the 
Commission. 


220  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

PHYSICAL,  EXAMINATION  OF  BAKERS 

The  necessity  for  a  physical  examination  of  those  engaged  at 
work  in  the  baking  industry  is  strikingly  emphasized  by  the  re- 
sults of  the  examination  previously  mentioned  of  800  bakers 
made  by  the  Commission. 

The  following  are  cases  taken  from  the  records  of  the  physical 
examination  of  bakers  made  for  the  Commission  last  December: 

Case  1.  G.  E. ,  Italian,  24  years  of  age;  6  years  in 

the  trade  and  is  married.  His  general  appearance  is  good 
but  his  personal  cleanliness  is  poor ;  had  anemia  in  a  marked 
degree.  We  found  on  his  body  a  rash  mostly  due  to  scratch- 
ing. On  careful  examination  we  found  that  the  rash  was 
due  to  body  lice.  He  had  a  slight  bronchitis. 

Case  2.  J.  G. ,  Russian,  baker  16  years.  General 

appearance  poor  and  cleanliness  bad.  His  lungs  on  one  side 
showed  signs  of  tubercular  infection. 

Case  3.  J.  P ,  Italian,  28  years.  General  appear- 
ance fair,  personal  cleanliness  poor.  His  skin  showed  what 
is  commonly  known  as  pimples  and  technically,  acne.  The 
acne  extended  all  over  the  body  and  even  on  his  arms,  so 
that  the  part  that  necessarily  makes  the  dough  was  also  in- 
fected. An  examination  of  this  man's  lungs  revealed  that  he 
had  an  infection  which  looked  very  much  to  be  tubercular, 
but  a  positive  diagnosis  could  not  be  made. 

Case  4'  F.  W ,  Austrian.  In  general,  his  appear- 
ance was  anemic.  An  examination  of  his  skin  showed  that 
he  had  eczema  in  patches  on  his  arms  and  various  parts  of 
the  body. 

The  bakers  handle  the  bread  both  before  and  after  it  is  baked 
and  the  food  product  is  therefore  twice  subject  to  contamination. 
It  has  furthermore  been  definitely  determined  that  the  baking 
process  which  is  supposed  to  sterilize  the  product,  does  not  neces- 
sarily destroy  all  the  infectious  agents  in  the  bread. 

In  the  investigation  made  for  the  Lancet  Commission  in 
England,*  numerous  experiments  are  mentioned  which  show  that 
the  temperature  which  reaches  the  center  of  the  baked  loaves  does 
not  exceed  180  degrees  and  that  pathogenic  bacteria  may  not  be 
destroyed,  and  that  spore-bearing  bacteria  are  certainly  not  de- 
stroyed. '  We  can  see  no  reason,"  say  Drs.  Waldo  and  Walsh, 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  221 

"  why  the  origin  of  so  many  mysterious  septic  invasions  of  the 
human  body  may  not  eventually  be  traced  to  the  agency  of  in- 
fected bread,"  *  *  *  "  baking  does  not  necessarily  destroy 
the  vitality  of  the  micro-organisms  contained  in  the  dough."*f 

The  Retail  Bakers'  Association  of  New  York  City,  an  organi- 
zation that  has  taken  a  most  enlightened  attitude  on  the  subject, 
warmly  approves  any  requirement  that  will  keep  from  the  baking 
industry  anyone  suffering  from  a  communicable  disease.  We 
believe  that  no  person  suffering  from  tuberculosis,  venereal 
disease,  skin  disease,  or  any  other  communicable  disease  should 
be  permitted  to  work  in  a  bakery. 

It  is  unwise,  however,  to  make  rigid  specifications  in  the  law 
as  to  this  matter.  We  believe  that  it  would  be  more  effective  to 
provide  in  the  statute  that  no  person  suffering  from  any  com- 
municable disease  should  be  permitted  to  work  in  a  bakery,  leaving 
it  to  the  local  departments  of  health  in  the  cities  ,of  the  first 
class  and  to  the  Department  of  Labor  in  the  rest  of  the  state  to 
make  detailed  rules  and  regulations  on  the  subject.  The  term 
"  communicable  disease  "  is  a  very  broad  one,  covering  both  in- 
fectious and  contagious  diseases,  so  that  the  proposed  provision 
would  result  in  excluding  from  the  bakeshop  any  person  whose 
health  or  physical  condition  was  such  as  possibly  to  contaminate 
the  food  product. 

To  aid  in  the  enforcement  of  this  law  we  recommend  that 
whenever  it  is  required  by  a  medical  inspector  of  the  local  de- 
partment of  health,  or  of  the  State  Department  of  Labor  as 
the  case  may  be,  any  bakery  employee  must  submit  to  a  physical 
examination  by  such  inspector,  and  that  no  person  refusing  to  be 
examined  shall  be  permitted  to  continue  work  in  any  bakery. 
We  believe  this  requirement  to  be  necessary  in  the  interests  of 
the  public  health. 

CELLAR  BAKERIES 

The  majority  of  bakeries  throughout  the  state  are  situated 
in  cellars  in  tenements  and  other  dwellings,  or  in  buildings  partly 
used  for  manufacturing  purposes.  The  location  of  bakeries  in 
cellars  has  been  common  throughout  the  world  but  within  the 

*  Report  of  the  Lancet  Special  Commission  on  Bakeries  and  Bread  Making. 
London.  1889-1890. 

t  P.   J.    Waldo    and    D.    "tt'alsh.      Bread,    Bakehouses   and    Bacteria,    London,   1895. 


222  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

last  few  years  steps  have  been  taken  in  foreign  countries, 
especially  in  England,  to  bring  about  a  prohibition  of  bread 
making  in  such  places.  In  England  new  bakeries  have  for  sev- 
eral years  past  been  forbidden  to  occupy  cellars. 

In  Chicago  there  has  been  a  very  active  campaign  against  the 
cellar  bakery  by  the  board  of  health  with  the  result  that  by  ordi- 
nance in  that  city  no  new  bakeries  are  permitted  to  be  located  in 
cellars.  In  Buffalo  too  the  board  of  health  has  been  especially 
active,  and  by  its  own  regulation  has  been  instrumental  in  causing 
the  use  of  cellars  for  bakeries  to  be  discontinued.  There  are  prac- 
tically no  bakeries  in  cellars  in  that  city  to-day. 

Exceptionally  bad  conditions  in  the  cellar  bakeries  in  New  York 
State  were  disclosed  by  the  Commission's  investigations.  Most  of 
the  witnesses  ascribed  the  bad  sanitary  conditions  found  in  them 
to  the  fact  that  the  bakeries  were  situated  in  cellars. 

A  cellar  is  unfit  both  for  the  manufacture  of  food  stuffs  and  for 
the  habitation  of  .workers.  There  can  be  no  natural  light  under 
the  most  favorable  conditions  in  a  cellar.  They  are  also  very  dif- 
ficult places  to  ventilate  unless  a  mechanical  system  is  installed, 
which  is  out  of  the  question  in  the  ordinary  small  bakery.  The 
ovens  and  the  heated  atmosphere  needed  for  dough  raising,  make 
it  impossible  for  cellar  bakeries  to  have  a  proper  temperature. 
They  cannot  be  kept  as  clean  as  other  parts  of  the  house  for  they 
are  semi-dark,  and  contain  most  of  the  plumbing  pipes  and  fix- 
tures. They  are  also  the  natural  habitation  of  insects  and  rodents. 

Testimony  was  given  by  Raymond  B.  Fosdick,  Commissioner  of 
Accounts  of  the  City  of  New  York,  that  of  the  145  cellar  bakeries 
examined  by  him  in  1911  in  New  York  City,  not  one  could  be  put 
in  a  sanitary  condition  and  that  this  fact  was  due  in  each  case  to 
the  situation  of  the  bakery  in  a  cellar  without  proper  light  and 
ventilation. 

That  a  cellar  bakery  is  more  difficult  to  keep  clean  than  one 
situated  above  ground,  is  the  testimony  of  every  expert  appearing 
before  the  Commission.  The  question  propounded  by  several  rep- 
resentatives of  the  master  bakers,  "  If  a  person  is  unsanitary  in  a 
cellar  bakery,  is  he  not  just  as  apt  to  be  unsanitary  in  a  bakery 
located  above  ground  ?  "  has  been  answered  in  the  negative  in 
every  case. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  223 

The  complete  correction  of  all  these  unsanitary  conditions  in 
cellar  bakeries  we  do  not  believe  possible  by  any  system  of  inspec- 
tion to  which  the  state  or  municipality  can  justly  resort.  The 
Commissioner  of  Health  of  the  city  of  New  York  made  the  state- 
ment, in  referring  to  these  cellar  bakeries :  "  I  have  not  yet  been 
shown  that  the  bakers  of  the  city  can  and  will  keep 
their  bakeries  in  a  sanitary  condition."  Nowhere  in  the 
United  States  or  in  foreign  countries  has  it  been  proved  that  the 
cellar  bakery  can  as  a  general  rule  be  regularly  maintained  in  a 
clean  and  sanitary  condition.  In  Buffalo  and  many  other  cities 
of  the  state,  in  Chicago,  and  in  England,  it  has  been  clearly  shown 
that  cellar  bakeries  cannot  be  adequately  supervised  and  controlled 
by  inspection. 

Nor  yet  would  it  be  just  to  recommend  the  immediate  prohibi- 
tion of  all  cellar  bakeries  now  in  existence.  The  hardship  to 
proprietors  of  these  bakeries  and  to  the  owners  of  buildings  in 
which  they  are  situated,  through  such  legislation  would  obviously 
be  too  great. 

PROHIBITION  OF  NEW  CELLAR  BAKERIES 

What,  then,  may  be  done  to  remedy  these  conditions  that  evi- 
dently are  quite  intolerable  to  all  concerned  for  the  public 
welfare  ? 

The  Commission  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  most  just  and  effec- 
tive legislation  would  (a)  provide  at  once  for  all  possible  improve- 
ment of  the  sanitary  conditions  in  existing  cellar  bakeries;  and 
(&)  prohibit  the  location  of  any  new  bakery  in  a  cellar. 

The  standards  for  proper  sanitation  of  the  bakeshop  and  for  the 
cleanliness  of  its  utensils  should  be  raised  in  the  case  of  existing 
cellar  bakeries.  Those  able  to  comply  with  these  requirements 
should  be  permitted  to  operate  under  close  inspection.  Those 
unable  to  comply  should  be  closed  at  once  in  the  interest  of  the 
public,  of  the  employees  and  of  the  baking  industry  itself. 

To  abolish  cellar  bakeries  gradually,  without  inflicting  too  great 
hardship  upon  those  engaged  in  the  industry  (a  result  that  will 
be  brought  about  if  new  bakeries  are  prohibited  from  locating  in 
cellars),  is  not  only  practicable,  but  is  imperatively  demanded  by 
the  conditions  that  have  been  disclosed.  This  course  of  gradual 


224  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

elimination  should  work  hardship  neither  to  the  bakers  nor  to  the 
owners  of  buildings  in  which  cellar  bakeries  are  now  located. 
Buildings  hereafter  constructed,  in  which  it  is  desired  to  maintain 
bakeries  should  have  basements  instead  of  cellars, — that  is,  the 
bakery  should  be  more  than  one-half  above  the  level  of  the  street. 

There  are  undoubtedly  a  few  cellars  not  now  used  as  bakeries  in 
which  a  sanitary  bakery  might  well  be  established  in  the  future, 
but  these  few  cases  are  so  rare  as  to  be  negligible,  and  should  not  be 
permitted  to  stand  in  the  way  of  the  enactment  of  legislation  that 
is  for  the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number. 

Whenever  it  is  sought  to  abolish  a  serious  evil  the  plea  is  always 
made  that  it  would  work  hardship  on  some  individuals  if  the  pro- 
posed change  were  made.  This  argument  has  been  urged  against 
every  progressive  step  in  civilization,  and  the  same  plea  has  been 
offered  whenever  any  legislation  has  been  introduced  for  the  im- 
provement of  conditions  for  the  human  race,  from  the  time  of  the 
enactment  of  the  first  child  labor  law  in  England  over  a  century 
ago,  to  the  passage  of  the  54-hour  law  in  this  state  at  the  last 
session  of  the  legislature.  But  this  apparent  hardship  to  the  few 
is  inevitable  in  the  march  of  progress. 

The  ,  Commission  therefore  recommends  that  no  new  bakery 
shall  hereafter  be  located  in  a  cellar  and  that  no  sanitary 
certificate  be  issued  ,for  any  bakery  so  located  hereafter. 
This  prohibition  should  not  apply,  however,  to  any  cel- 
lar used  and  operated  as  a  bakery  on  the  fifteenth  day  of 
January,  1913,  or  to  any  cellar  so  used  or  operated  within  a  year 
prior  thereto.  !N"o  such  cellar  shall  be  entitled  to  this  exemption 
unless  satisfactory  proof ,  of  its  use  as  a  bakery  as  specified,  is  fur- 
nished to  the  local  health  department  or  to  the  Commissioner  of 
Labor  as  the  case  may  be,  in  such  form  as  may  be  required  within 
six  months  after  this  act  shall  take  effect.  Upon  receipt  of  such 
proof  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  or  the  local  health  department 
shall  issue  a  certificate  of  exemption. 

ADDITIONAL  MINIMUM  REQUIREMENTS  FOE  BAKESHOPS 

Our  attention  has  been  called  to  a  number  of  matters  not  now 
specified  in  the  law  dealing  with  sanitary  conditions  in  bakeshops 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  225 

that  should  properly  be  included  in  it  in  order  to  bring  about  an 
improvement  of  conditions.  Accordingly,  we  recommend  the  fol- 
lowing additions  to  sections  111  et  seq.  of  the  labor  law: 

1.  Mechanical  means  of  ventilation  when  provided  shall  be 
effectively  used  and  operated  at  all  times  during  working  hours. 

2.  Windows  and  other  openings  in  the  bakery  shall  be  provided 
with  proper  screens. 

3.  All  workmen  and  employees  while  engaged  in  the  manu- 
facture and  handling  of  bread  shall  wear  slippers  or  shoes,  and  a 
suit  of  washable  material  which  shall  be  used  for  that  work  only, 
and  these  garments  shall  be  kept  clean  at  all  times. 

SANITARY  CODE  FOE  BAKERIES 

In  addition  to  the  minimum  requirements  contained  in  the 
statute,  we  recommend  that  the  local  health  department  in  cities  of 
the  first  class  and  the  Industrial  Board  of  the  Department  of  Labor 
for  the  rest  of  the  state  shall  also  adopt  detailed  rules  and  regula- 
tions for  the  construction  of  bakeshops,  their  maintenance,  the 
cleanliness  of  their  utensils,  and  the  health  and  personal  cleanliness 
of  the  workers  therein,  to  be  formulated  as  a  sanitary  code  for 
bakeries  so  that  the  master  bakers  may  know  just  what  is  required 
of  them  and  may  not,  as  they  are  to-day,  be  in  a  position  to  plead 
ignorance  of  the  law  because  of  the  vagueness  and  indefiniteness 
of  many  of  its  requirements. 

SFMMAEY 

We  have  outlined  some  of  the  evil  conditions  that  were  found 
by  our  investigators  in  the  bakeries  of  the  state.  We  do  not  wish, 
however,  to  give  the  impression  that  all  or  nearly  all  of  the  bakeries 
of  this  state  are  unsanitary.  There  are  many  men  operating  small 
bakeshops  which  are  models  of  cleanliness.  But  unfortunately 
this  is  not  generally  true. 

We  have  recommended  as  changes  which  we  believe  will  result 
in  improved  conditions,  (a)  that  the  jurisdiction  over  bakeries  and 
responsibility  for  conditions  therein  be  placed,  in  cities  of  the  first 
class,  in  the  local  department  of  health,  and  for  the  rest  of  the 
state  in  the  Department  of  Labor;  (b)  that  every  bakery  be  re- 
15 


226  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

quired  to  obtain  a  sanitary  certificate  in  order  to  operate ;  (c)  that 
the  employment  of  diseased  bakers  be  prohibited;  (d)  that  new 
bakeries  be  prohibited  from  locating  in  cellars ;  and  (e)  that  cer- 
tain additions  be  made  to  the  minimum  requirements  of  the  present 
bakery  law;  and  (f)  that  sanitary  codes  for  bakeries  be  enacted 
which  shall  specify  in  detail  standards  of  cleanliness  and 
sanitation.* 

After  the  responsibility  for  the  enforcement  of  the  law  has  been 
definitely  fixed  in  one  department,  that  department  should  be 
given, adequate  means  to  perform  its  full  duty.  This  duty  should 
involve  a  thorough  inspection  of  every  bakeshop  not  less  than  once 
in  every  two  weeks,  and  oftener  when  necessary.  Nowhere  is 
frequent,  periodical,  and  efficient  inspection  more  needed  than  in 
bakeries. 

*  Bill  17,  Appendix   I. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  227 

VII. 

GENERAL  SANITARY  CONDITIONS 

The  Commission  conducted  an  extensive  investigation  of  the 
general  sanitary  conditions  under  which  manufacture  is  carried 
on  throughout  the  state.  In  1911,  1,838  establishments  were 
inspected  in  which  63,374  wage  earners  were  employed.  In 
1912,  1,338  establishments  were  inspected  in  which  125,961  wage 
earners  were  employed.  Altogether  3,176  establishments  with 
189,335  employees  were  inspected.  The  investigation  covered  45 
cities  in  the  state  and  88  industries.  This  list  does  not  take  into 
account  the  special  investigations  that  were  made  in  relation  to 
canneries,  lead  poisoning,  and  wood  alcohol.  Particular  attention 
was  devoted  to  the  following  industries :  clothing,  textiles,  metal, 
foods,  furs,  tobacco,  printing,  and  chemical  establishments. 

The  following  table  shows  the  general  scope  of  the  sanitary 
investigations  conducted  in  1911  and  1912 : 

Industrial 
Establishments.    Shops.      Wage-Earners. 

Clothing  341                    523  2,822 

Textiles  132                    490  35,173 

Metal 130                    415  25,840 

Foods 729  1,123  15,447 

Furs   253                    284  4,764 

Tobacco  251                    472  15,594 

Printing 348                    523  9,047 

Chemical    Industry    127                    344  4,764 

Miscellaneous 865  1,901  51,264 


3,176  6,075  189,335 


The  following  general  conditions  were  investigated:  construc- 
tion of  factories,  safeguarding  of  machinery,  light  and  illumina- 
tion, ventilation  and  heating,  sanitary  conveniences  and  comforts. 

GENERAL  RESULTS 

To  the  credit  of  New  York  State  and  its  many  enlightened 
manufacturers  it  may  be  said  that  the  Commission  found  in  vari- 
ous cities  many  industrial  establishments,  some  of  small  size, 
which  were  models  in  all  or  in  most  respects.  In  these  the  work- 
ing conditions  were  excellent.  Ample  provision  was  made  for  the 
health  and  comfort  of  .the  employees  and  a  proper  regard  for  their 


228  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

safety  was  manifest.  High  standards  of  industrial  efficiency  were 
maintained  in  these  establishments,  and  the  owners  in  their  de- 
sire to  protect  their  employees  went  far  beyond  the  minimum 
requirements  of  the  labor  law.  These  factories  should  serve 
as  example  for  other  manufacturers  to  follow.  They  are  con- 
crete proofs  that  industrial  efficiency,  progress,  and  business 
success  are  not  incompatible  with  a  high  regard  for  the  health 
and  comfort  of  the  workers. 

The  Commission  found  that  more  than  half  of  the  manufactur- 
ing establishments  in  the  state  were  in  a  fair  sanitary  condition. 
The  majority  of  the  manufacturers  have  endeavored  to  obey  the 
law.  That  they  have  occasionally  failed  to  do  so  is  largely  due 
to  the  vague  and  indefinite  requirements  of  many  of  our  labor 
laws.  Compulsory  methods  need  not  be  used  in  the  case  of  these 
employers.  They  are  in  accord  with  the  general  principles  of 
the  labor  law  and  if  any  defective  condition  is  brought  to  their 
attention  they  are  willing  to  remedy  it  at  once.  What  is  needed 
in  these  cases  is  intelligent  inspection,  not  from  a  "  police  "  but 
from  a  friendly  standpoint. 

The  investigations,  however,  have  also  disclosed  in  this  state 
a  large  number  of  industrial  establishments  where  the  general 
sanitary  conditions  under  which  manufacture  is  carried  on  are 
deplorable  and  where  there  is  apparent  disregard  for  the  health 
and  comfort  of  the  employees.  These  manufacturers  represent 
the  old  "  laissez  f aire  "  attitude  in  our  industrial  life.  They 
maintain,  as  some  have  stated  openly  at  public  hearings  of  the 
Commission,  that  the  working  conditions  in  their  establishments 
are  of  no  concern  to  anyone  but  themselves  and  that  the  state 
has  no  right  to  interfere  with  them  in  the  conduct  of  their  busi- 
ness. This  class  of  manufacturers,  who  fortunately  are  in  a' 
small  minority,  must  be  shown  that  the  health  of  the  workers  is 
of  paramount  importance  to  the  state,  which  not  only  has  the 
right  but  is  bound  to  take  measures  that  workers  be  properly 
safeguarded  in  the  course  of  their  employment.  Manufacturers 
must  be  reminded  of  their  duty  by  frequent  inspections  and 
prompt  and  effective  punishment  of  wilful  disregard  of  any  of  the 
provisions  of  the  statute. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  229 

UNCLEAN  WORKROOMS 

The  Commission  found  distinct  improvement  in  the  cleanliness 
of  workrooms  in  factories  throughout  the  state.  The  conditions 
that  existed  in  1911  led  to  the  enactment  of  a  law  recommended 
by  the  Commission  (sec.  95  of  the  labor  law),  giving  the  Com- 
missioner of  Labor  power  to  affix  the  unclean  tag  to  articles 
manufactured  in  any  workroom  kept  in  an  unclean  and  unsanitary 
condition.  This  new  law  has  had  a  most  salutary  effect.  Factory 
inspectors  informed  the  Commission  that  they  now  get  immediate 
results  in  attempting  to  remedy  unclean  conditions  where  for- 
merly they  had  to  wait  weeks  and  months. 

The  Commission  recommends  that  the  present  provisions  of 
the  labor  law  dealing,  with  cleanliness  of  workrooms  and  factory 
buildings  be  made  more  definite  and  certain,  and  submits  bills 
for  that  purpose.* 

LIGHT  AND  ILLUMINATION 

The  lack  of  proper  light  in  our  factories  has  long  been  recog- 
nized as  a  serious  evil.  Inadequate  lighting  in  industrial  es- 
tablishments affects  not  only  the  eyesight  and  general  health  of  the 
workers,  but  it  also  impairs  the  efficiency  of  their  work  and  is 
responsible  for  many  of  the  accidents  that  occur  every  year  in  our 
factories.  The  enlightened  employer  recognizes  that  it  is  to  his 
commercial  interest  to  secure  adequate  illumination,  because  of 
the  improved  output  and  quality  of  work. 

There  can  be  no  hard  and  fast  requirements,  however,  to 
regulate  lighting  in  factories.  The  requirements  for  proper 
illumination  must  be  adapted  to  the  varying  conditions  of  the 
different  industries.  In  the  present  state  of  the  science  and  art 
of  illumination  we  believe  that  it  would  be  impracticable  to 
specify  explicitly  in  any  statute  the  precise  methods  of  installa- 
tion, arrangement,  and  use  of  lights  to  secure  the  results  desired. 
The  language  of  the  statute  should  be  made  broad  enough  to 
give  the  Industrial  Board  power  to  make  rules  and  regulations 
for  light  and  illumination,  both  natural  and  artificial  in  the  dif- 
ferent industries.  In  formulating  such  rules  the  Industrial  Board 
would  have  the  power  to  call  in  illuminating  engineers  as  experts 
and  it  could  form  voluntary  committees  of  those  interested  in 
the  subject. 

*  Bills   18,  19,   Appendix  I. 


230  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

We  therefore  recommend  the  following  amendment  to  Sec. 
81  of  the  Labor  Law:* 

"  All  workrooms  shall  be  properly  and  adequately  lighted 
during  working  hours.  Artificial  illuminants  in  every  work- 
room shall  be  installed,  arranged  and  used  so  that  the  light 
furnished  will.,  at  all  times,  be  sufficient  and  adequate  for 
the  work  carried  on  therein,  due  regard  being  given  to  the 
prevention  of  strain  on  the  vision  and  glare  in  the  eyes  of 
the  workers.  The  industrial  board,  pursuant  to  the  pro- 
visions of  this  chapter,  may  make  and  from  time  to  time^ 
change  or  modify  rules  and  regulations  to  provide  adequate 
and  sufficient  natural  and  artificial  lighting  facilities  in  all 
factories." 

VENTILATION 

In  our  preliminary  report  we  emphasized  the  importance  in 
factories  of  proper  ventilation.  Further  investigation  merely  con- 
firms the  total  disregard  of  this  subject  in  most  of  our  factories. 
Nearly  all  of  the  factories  inspected  were  found  to  rely  solely  on 
window  ventilation.  It  is  clear  that  such  ventilation  is  inade- 
quate and  in  the  majority  of  cases  practically  useless. 

We  do  not  believe  that  it  is  practicable  to  lay  down  in  the 
statute  specific  requirements  for  the  general  ventilation  of  fac- 
tories to  be  applied  to  all  industries.  Conditions  in  the  different 
industries  vary  and,  as  in  the  case  of  illumination,  we  believe  that 
the  matter  is  one  that  should  be  left  to  the  Industrial  Board,  to 
which  should  be  given  the  power  to  make  rules  and  regulations 
for  proper  ventilation  of  factories  in  the  different  industries,  f 

The  subject  of  special  ventilation  for  the  removal  of  dust,  gases, 
and  fumes  will  be  considered  hereafter  in  the  section  of  the 
report  dealing  with  dangerous  trades. 

WASHING  FACILITIES 

To  secure  more  adequate  washing  facilities  in  factories  we 
would  recommend  the  following  amendment  to  subdivision  two 
of  section  88  of  the  labor  law: 

"  2.  In  every  factory  there  shall  be  provided  and  main- 
tained for  the  use  of  the  employees  suitable  and  convenient 

*  Bill    22,    Appendix   I. 
t  Bill   20,    Appendix    I. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  231 

washrooms,  separate  for  each  sex,  adequately  equipped  with 
[sinks  and  proper  water  service;  and^washing  facilities  con- 
sisting of  sinks  or  stationary  basins  provided  with  running 
water  or  with  tanks  holding  an  adequate  supply  of  clean 
water.  Every  washroom  shall  be  provided  with  means  for 
artificial  illumination  and  with  adequate  means  of  ventilation. 
All  washrooms  shall  be  constructed,  lighted,  ventilated, 
arranged  and  maintained  according  to  rules  a?id  regulations 
adopted  with  reference  thereto  by  the  industrial  board.* 

WATEB,   CLOSET  ACCOMMODATIONS 

No  feature  of  industrial  establishments  is  so  neglected  as  the 
toilet  accommodations.  Their  location  in  a  large  number  of  fac- 
tories is  inaccessible.  In  many  cases  the  toilets  are  located  outside 
of  the  buildings  and  the  employees  to  reach  them  are  required  to 
walk  a  considerable  distance.  This  condition  may  in  winter  and 
inclement  weather  result  in  seriously  affecting  the  health  of  the 
employees. 

In  186  of  the  establishments  inspected  the  toilets  were  located 
in  the  yard.  In  some  chemical  establishments  they  were  found 
at  a  distance  of  over  150  feet  from  the  central  portions  of  the 
establishments.  In  795  shops  the  toilets  were  found  in  the  halls, 
where,  owing  to  this  poor  location,  they  are  generally  kept  in  an 
unsanitary  condition. 

The  type  of  water  closet  in  use  is  usually  fair  although  there 
are  still  many  establishments  in  which  the  plumbing  was  found 
unfit  for  use.  A  number  of  privies,  school  sinks,  and  trough 
closets  were  found.  In  a  certain  shoddy  mill  that  the  Commis- 
sion visited  we  found  that  the  owner,  a  member  of  the  local  board 
of  health,  had  neglected  to  provide  any  water  closets  at  all  for 
his  employees.  The  substitute  for  proper  toilet  accommodations 
in  that  establishment  was  a  wooden  barrel  located  in  the  sub-cellar. 

The  light  and  ventilation  of  the  toilet  compartments  were 
found  to  be  inadequate;  26.4%  of  the  water  closets  were  found 
to  have  "  poor  light "  and  in  16.4%  the  light  was  reported  as 
"bad;"  28%  of  the  water  closet  compartments  had  poor  ventila- 
tion and  in  17.8%  the  ventilation  was  bad. 

*  Bill    21,    Appendix    I. 


232  REPOKT  OF  COMMISSION. 

Cleanliness  of  the  water  closet  compartments  was  reported  as 
"poor"  in  34.2%  and  as  "bad"  in  19.2%  of  the  cases. 

We  found  a  number  of  water  closet  compartments  located  in 
the  workroom  proper  with  no  window  opening  to  the  outer  air 
and  with  no  vent  duct  provided.  In  many  of  the  factories  visited, 
the  number  of  water  closets  was  entirely  inadequate.  We  there- 
fore make  the  following  provisions  for  water  closets  in  factories 
to  be  incorporated  in  a  new  section,  section  eighty-eight-a  of  the 
labor  law :  * 

SEC.  88-a.  Water  closets.  1.  In  every  factory  there  shall  be 
provided  suitable  and  convenient  water  closets  separate  for  each 
sex,  located  in  such  number  and  in  such  place  or  places  as  re- 
quired by  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  Industrial  Board.  All 
water  closets  shall  be  maintained  inside  of  the  factory  except 
where,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  it  is  im- 
practicable to  do  so. 

2.  There   shall   be   separate  water   closet   compartments   for 
females,  to  be  used  by  them  exclusively,  and  notice  to  that  effect 
shall  be  painted  on  the  outside  of  such  compartments.     The  en- 
trance to  every  water  closet  used  by  females  shall  be  effectively 
screened  by  a  partition  or  vestibule.     Where  water  closets  for 
males  and  females  are  in  adjoining  compartments,  there  shall  be 
solid  plastered  or  metal  covered  partitions  between  the  compart- 
ments extending  from  the  floor  to  the  ceiling.     Whenever  any 
water    closet   compartments    open    directly   into    the    workroom 
exposing  the  interior,   they  shall  be  screened  from  view  by  a 
partition  or  a  vestibule.     The  use  of  curtains  for  screening  pur- 
poses is  prohibited. 

3.  The  use  of  any  form  of  trough  water  closet,  latrine  or 
school  sink  within  the  factory  is  prohibited.     All  such  trough 
water  closets,  latrines  or  school  sinks  shall,  before  the  first  day 
of  October,   nineteen  hundred  and  fourteen,  be   completely  re- 
moved and  the  place  where  they  were  located  properly   disin- 
fected under  the  direction  of  the  department  of  labor.     Such 
appliances  shall  be  replaced  by  proper  individual  water  closets, 
placed  in  water  closet  compartments,  all  of  which  shall  be  con- 

*  Bill    21,   Appendix   I. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  233 

structed  and  installed  in  accordance  with  rules  and  regulations 
adopted  by  the  industrial  board. 

4.  Every  existing  water  closet  and  urinal  inside  the  factory 
shall  have  a  basin  of  enamelled  iron  or  earthenware,  and  every 
such  water  closet  and  urinal  shall  be  flushed  from  a  separate 
water  supplied  cistern  or  through  a  flushometer  valve  connected  in 
such  manner  as  to  keep  the  water  supply  of  the  factory  free  from 
contamination.     The  woodwork  enclosing  all  water  closet  fixtures 
shall  be  removed  from  the  front  of  the  closet  and  the  space  under- 
neath the  seat  shall  be  left  open.     The  floor  or  other  surface 
beneath  and  around  the  closet  shall  be  maintained  in  good  order 
and  repair,  and  all  the  woodwork  shall  be  kept  well  painted  with 
paint  of  a  light  color.     All  existing  water  closet  compartments 
shall  have  windows  leading  to  the  outer  air  and  shall  be  other- 
wise  ventilated   in   accordance   with   the   rules    and   regulations 
adopted  for  the  purpose  by  the  industrial  board  to  the  Depart- 
ment of  Labor.    Such  compartments  shall  be  provided  with  means 
for  artificial  illumination,  and  the  enclosure  of  each  compartment 
shall  be  kept  free  from  all  obscene  writing  or  marking. 

5.  All  water  closets,  urinals,  and  water  closet  compartments 
hereafter  installed  in  a  factory,  including  those  provided  to  re- 
place existing  fixtures,  shall  be  properly  constructed,   installed, 
ventilated,  lighted  and  maintained  in  accordance  with  such  rules 
and  regulations  as  may  be  adopted  by  the  industrial  board. 

6.  All  water  closet  compartments,  and  the  floors,  walls,  ceil- 
ings and  surface  thereof,  and  all  fixtures  therein,  and  all  water 
closets  and  urinals  shall  at  all  times  be  kept  and  maintained  in 
a  clean  and  sanitary  condition.    Where  the  water  supply  to  water 
closets  or  urinals  is  liable  to  freeze,  the  water  closet  compart- 
ment shall  be  properly  heated  so  as  to  prevent  freezing,  or  the 
supply  and  flush  pipes,  cisterns  and  traps  and  valves  shall  be 
effectively  covered  with  wool  felt  or  hair  felt,  or  other  adequate 
covering. 

7.  All  water  closets  shall  be  constructed,  lighted,  ventilated, 
arranged    and    maintained    according    to    rules    and    regulations 
adopted  with  reference  thereto  by  the  industrial  board. 


234  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

DRESSING  ROOMS 

The  provision  of  some  private  room  for  women  is  one  of  the 
essentials  of  decency  in  all  occupations  where  women  have  to 
change  their  clothes,  and  becomes  indispensable  in  case  of  sudden 
illness.  Many  of  the  dressing  rooms  that  we  inspected  were 
small,  dark,  and  badly  ventilated.  We  recommend  the  follow- 
ing addition  to  subdivision  three,  section  eighty-eight  of  the 
labor  law:* 

In  every  factory  in  which  more  than  ten  women  are  em- 
ployed, there  shall  be  provided  one  or  more  separate  dressing 
rooms  in  such  numbers  as  required  by  the  rules  afid  regula- 
tions of  the  industrial  board  and  located  in  such  place  or 
places  as  required  by  such  rules  and  regulations,  having  an 
adequate  floor  space  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  em- 
ployees, to  be  fixed  by  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  in" 
dustrial  board,  but  the  floor  space  of  every  such  dressing 
room  shall  in  no  event  be  less  than  sixty  square  feet;  each 
dressing  room  shall  be  completely  separated  from  any  water 
closet  compartment  and  shall  be  provided  with  adequate 
means  for  artificial  illumination;  eafh  dressing  room  shall 
be  provided  with  suitable  means  for  hanging  clothes  and  with 
a  suitable  number  of  seats.  All  dressing  rooms  shall  be 
enclosed  by  means  of  solid  partitions  or  walls,  and  shall  be 
constructed,  ventilated,  lighted  and  maintained  in  accordance 
with  such  rules  and  regulations  as  may  be  adopted  by  the 
industrial  board  with  reference  thereto. 

•  Bill    21,   Appendix   I. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  235 

IX. 

ACCIDENT  PREVENTION 

The  table  attached  of  accidents  reported  to  the  Labor  Depart- 
ment for  the  year  ending  September  30,  1912,  emphasizes  more 
forcibly  than  words  how  much  remains  to  be  accomplished  by 
the  State,  in  what  is  perhaps  the  most  important  branch  of  fac- 
tory regulation, —  the  prevention  of  industrial  accidents.* 

*  Accidents  in  the  chemical  industry  will  be  referred  to  in  the  next  section 
of  the  report. 


236 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 


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REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  237 

There  were  50,752  accidents  reported  to  the  Department  of 
Labor  in  one  year  for  factories  alone,  167  resulting  in  death,  and 
the  rest  of  a  more  or  less  serious  nature  involving  loss  of  time  and 
often  permanent  injury.  Besides  these  there  are  many  accidents 
occurring  in  factories  every  year  that  are  never  reported  to  the 
Department  of  Labor. 

How  cruel  and  unnecessary  is  this  yearly  waste  of  human  life 
is  clearly  demonstrated  by  experts  on  the  subject,  who  show  that 
not  less  than  one-third  of  all  the  accidents  that  occur  in  factories 
to-day  could  be  avoided  if  simple,  and  for  the  most  part  inex- 
pensive precautions  were  taken. 

The  entire  subject  of  accident  prevention  was  thoroughly  dis- 
cussed by  the  Employers'  Liability  Commission  of  this  state  in  its 
report  to  the  legislature  on  April  20,  1911.  We  shall,  therefore, 
confine  ourselves  to  a  number  of  recommendations  for  improve- 
ments in  the  existing  law,  the  necessity  for  which  was  called  to 
our  attention  at  public  hearings  and  private  conferences.  These 
recommendations  have  practically  all  received  the  approval  of 
manufacturers,  representatives  of  labor  organizations,  and  others 
interested  in  the  subject  who, appeared  before  the  Commission. 

RECOMMENDED  CHANGES  IN  EXISTING  LAW  FOE  THE  SAFE- 
GUARDING OF  MACHINERY 

Every  dangerous  part  of  a  prime  mover  whether  in  motion  or 
not  shall  be  securely  safeguarded. 

All  hydro-extractors  shall  be  covered  or  otherwise  properly 
guarded  when  in  motion. 

All  saws  shall  be  provided  with  a  proper  and  effective  guard. 

All  planers  or  surfacers  shall  be  protected  by  a  substantial  hood 
or  covering. 

All  hand  planers  or  jointers  shall  be  provided  with  a  proper 
and  effective  guard. 

All  cogs  and  gearing  shall  be  boxed  or  encased  either  with  metal 
or  wood. 

All  belting  within  seven  feet  of  the  floor  shall  be  properly 
guarded.  , 

All  revolving  shafting  within  seven  feet  of  the  floors  shall  be 
protected  on  its  exposed  surface  by  being  encased  in  such  manner 


238  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

as  effectively  to  prevent  any  part  of  the  body,  hair,  or  clothing  of 
the  operators  or  other  persons  from  coming  in  contact  with  such 
shafting. 

All  set-screws,  keys,  "bolts,  and  all  parts  projecting  beyond  the 
surface  of  revolving  shafting  shall  be  countersunk  or  provided 
with  suitable  covering,  and  machinery  of  every  description  shall 
be  properly  guarded  and  provided  with  proper  safety  appliances 
or  devices. 

All  machines,  machinery,  apparatus,  furniture,  and  fixtures 
shall  be  so  placed  and  guarded  in  relation  to  one  another  as  to  be 
safe  for  all  persons  employed  thereabouts. 

LIGHTING  OF  PASSAGEWAYS  AND  MOVING  PAKTS  OF  MACHINERY 

Inadequate  lighting  of  passageways  in  factories  and  of  danger- 
ous moving  parts  of  machinery  is  a  frequent  cause  of  accident. 
We  therefore  recommend  that  all  passageways  and  other  portions 
of  a  factory,  and  all  moving  parts  of  machinery  unless  properly 
and  sufficiently  guarded,  on  which  or  about  which  persons  work 
or  pass  or  may  have  to  work  or  pass  in  emergencies  shall  be  kept 
properly  and  sufficiently  lighted  during  working  hours. 

INDUSTRIAL  BOARD  TO  MAKE  RULES  AND  REGULATIONS 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing  minimum  requirements  to  be  speci- 
fied in  the  law  itself  we  recommend  that  the  Industrial  Board  be 
given  the  power  to  make  rules  and  regulations  to  govern  the  instal- 
lation, position,  operation,  guarding,  and  use  of  machines,  and 
machinery  in  operation  in  factories;  the  furnishing  and  use  of 
safety  devices  and  safety  appliances  for  machines  and  machinery, 
of  special  clothing  and  of  guards  to  be  worn  upon  the  person ;  and 
for  any  other  purpose  in  order  to  provide  for  the  prevention  of 
accidents  in  factories. 

In  the  field  of  accident  prevention  the  Industrial  Board  must 
necessarily  play  a  most  important  role.  There  can  be  no  hard 
and  fast  legal  requirements  for  the  safeguarding  of  machinery. 
Each  industry  has  its  peculiar  problems.  The  Industrial  Board, 
acting  as  we  have  previously  outlined  in  this  report,  would  have 
the  power  to  make  the  requirements  for  the  safeguarding  of  ma- 
chinery flexible  and  elastic,  so  that  they  might  be  adapted  to  the 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  239 

varying  conditions  in  the  different  industries,  and  the  new  types 
of  machines  and  machinery  that  are  constantly  being  installed. 
The  method  of  safeguarding  a  machine  would  no  longer  be  left 
to  the  whim  and  caprice  of  an  individual  inspector.  There  would 
be  uniformity  of  requirements.  The  manufacturer  would  know 
exactly  what  to  do  to  protect  his  machinery  and  the  inspector 
would  know  definitely  what  requirements  he  had  the  right  to  in- 
sist upon.* 

ELEVATORS 

A  great  many  elevator  accidents  occur  in  factories  every  year. 
In  the  period  from  1907  to  1910  the  following  elevator  accidents 
were  reported  to  the  Department  of  Labor: 

Falling  down  stairs 200     Killed     43 

Factory  elevator  accidents 1,108  106 


1,308  149 


The  present  provisions  of  the  law  relating  to  elevators  and 
elevator  shafts  are  entirely  inadequate.  We  therefore  make  the 
following  recommendations  for  the  substantial  enclosure  of  hatch- 
ways used  for  freight  and  passenger  elevator  purposes,  for  the 
protection  of  employees  operating  freight  elevators,  for  the  en- 
closure of  passenger  elevator  cars,  and  for  the  lighting  of  all  open- 
ings leading  to  elevators. 

§  79.  1.  Inclosure  of  shafts.  Every  hoistway,  hatchway  or 
well-hole  used  for  carrying  passengers  or  employees,  or  for  freight 
elevators,  hoisting  or  other  purpose,  shall  be  protected  on  all  sides 
at  each  floor  including  the  basement  by  substantial  vertical  in- 
closures.  All  openings  in  such  inclosures  shall  be  provided  with 
self-closing  gates  not  less  than  six  feet  high  or  with  properly 
constructed  sliding  doors.  In  the  case  of  elevators  used  for  carry 
ing  passengers  or  employees,  such  inclosures  shall  be  flush  with  the 
hatchway  and  shall  extend  from  floor  to  ceiling  on  every  open  side 
of  the  car  and  on  every  other  side  shall  be  at  least  six  feet  high, 
and  surh  Inclosures  shall  be  free  from  fixed  obstructions  on  every 
open  side  of  the  car.  In  the  case  of  freight  elevators  the  in- 

*  For  detailed  recommendations  on  this   subject,    see  Bill   22,   Appendix  I. 


240  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

closures  shall  be  flush  with  the  hoistway  on  every  open  side  of  the 
car.  In  place  of  the  inclosures  herein  required  for  freight  ele- 
vators, every  hatchway  used  for  freight  elevator  purposes  may  l>e 
provided  with  trap  doors  so  constructed  as  to  form  a  substantial 
floor  surface  when  closed  and  so  arranged  as  to  open  and  close  by 
the  option  of  the  car  in  its  passage  both  ascending  and  descending; 
provided  that  in  addition  to  such  trap  doors,  the  hatchway  shall 
be  adequately  protected  on  all  sides  at  all  floors,  including  the 
basement,  by  a  substantial  railing  or  other  vertical  inclosure  al 
least  three  feet  in  height. 

2.  Guarding  of  elevators  and  hoistways.     All  counter-weights 
of  every  elevator  shall  be  adequately  protected  by  proper  inclosures 
at  the  top  and  bottom  of  the  run.     The  car  of  all  elevators  used 
for  carrying  passengers  or  employees  shall  be  substantially  en- 
closed on  all  sides,  including  the  top,  and  such  cars  shall  at  all 
times  be  properly  lighted,  artificial  illuminants  to  be  provided  and 
used  when  necessary.     The  entire  top  of  every  freight  elevator 
car  or  platform  shall  be  provided  with  a  substantial  grating  or 
covering  for  the  protection  of  the  operator  thereof. 

3.  Elevators   and    hoistways    in    factory    buildings    hereafter 
erected.     The  provisions  of  subdivisions  one  and  two  of  this  section 
shall  apply  only  to  factory  buildings  heretofore  erected.     In  all 
factory  buildings  hereafter  erected  every  elevator  and  every  part 
thereof  and  all  machinery  connected  therewith  and  every  hoistway, 
hatchway  and  well-hole  shall  be  so  constructed,  guarded,  equipped, 
maintained  and  operated  as  to  be  safe  for  all  persons  using  the 
same. 

4.  Maintenance  of  elevators  and  hoistways  in  all  factory  build- 
ings.    In  every  factory  building  heretofore  erected  or  hereafter 
erected,  all  inclosures,  doors  and  gates  of  hoistways,  hatchways 
or  well-holes,  and  all  elevators  therein  used  for  the  carrying  of 
passengers  or  employees  or  freight  and  the  gates  and  doors  thereof 
shall  at  all  times  be  kept  in  good  repair  and  in  a  safe  condition. 
All  openings  leading  to  elevators  shall  be  kept  well  lighted  at  all 
times  during  working  hours,   with  artificial  illumination  when 
necessary.     The  cable  gearing  and  other  apparatus  of  elevators 
used  for  carrying  passengers  or  employees  or  freight  shall  be  kept 
in  a  safe  condition. 


EEPOET  OF  COMMISSION.  241 

5.  Powers  of  industrial  board.  The  industrial  board  shall 
have  power  to  make  rules  and  regulation's  'not  inconsistent  with 
the  provisions  of  this  chapter  regulating  the  construction,  guard- 
ing, equipment,  maintenance  and  operation  of  elevators  and  all 
parts  thereof  and  all  machinery  connected  therewith  and  hoist- 
ways,  hatchways  and  well-holes  in  order  to  carry  out  the  purpose 
and  intention  of  this  section.* 


The  mere  enactment  of  better  laws,  and  the  mere  formulation 
of  rules  and  regulations  will  not,  however,  solve  the  important 
problem  of  safety  in  our  factories.  We  must  have  an  intelligent 
and  efficient  administration  of  those  laws  and  regulations.  This 
involves  not  only  their  prompt  and  effective  enforcement  but  the 
education  of  manufacturer  and  employee  to  an  understanding  of 
the  benefits  to  be  derived  from  compliance  with  the  law  and  the 
encouragement  of  a  higher  standard  of  safety  than  any  law  can 
create. 

Our  inspectors  have,  for  the  most  part,  been  woefully  in- 
efficient in  the  enforcement  of  the  law  relating  to  the  safeguard- 
ing of  machinery.  In  our  inspections  of  factories  in  different 
cities  of  the  state  we  found  any  number  of  cases  of  unguarded 
dangerous  machines  and  machinery.  The  inspectors  when  they 
enter  the  service  are  not  trained  technical  men,  and  until  very 
recently  there  has  been  no  safety  expert  in  the  Department  of 
Labor  to  give  the  field  inspectors  the  benefit  of  his  knowledge 
and  experience. 

We  believe  that  the  recommendations  we  have  previously  made 
for  an  increase  in  the  number  of  inspectors,  for  the  grading  and 
increased  salaries  of  inspectors,  for  the  creation  of  two  inspection 
districts  in  the  state,  and  for  the  formulation  of  definite  rules 
and  regulations  by  the  Industrial  Board  will  soon  bring  about  a 
marked  improvement  in  the  enforcement  of  this  branch  of  the 
law. 

We  urge  that  after  inspectors  have  entered  the  department, 
they  receive  detailed  instruction  from  time  to  time  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  safeguarding  of  machinery,  from  the  mechanical  cn- 

*  Bill   23,   Appendix  I. 

16 


242  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

gineer  of  the   department   in  the   form  of   lectures,   illustrated 
bulletins,  and  manuals. 

EDUCATION  OF  EMPLOYER  AND  EMPLOYEE 

Education  more  than  anything  else  will  bring  about  the  desired 
results  in  this  field.  The  true  function  of  the  Department  of 
Labor  in  this  most  important  branch  of  its  work  should  be  that 
of  teacher  and  guide.  It  should  certainly  not  be  limited  to  that 
of  police  officer.  Bulletins  should  be  issued  for  distribution 
among  the  manufacturers  and  employees  showing  the  methods  of 
safeguarding  machinery  and  illustrating  the  different  safety  de- 
vices and  appliances.  Reports  of  serious  accidents,  their  causes 
and  methods  of  prevention  should  be  sent  out  from  time  to  time. 

We  do  not  wish  to  underestimate  the  value  of  complete  and 
accurate  statistics,  but  statistics  in  themselves  are  of  little  value 
to  the  average  manufacturer.  He  wants  those  statistics  inter- 
preted for  him,  preferably  in  the  form  of  concrete  cases.  Manu- 
facturers and  employees  should  be  encouraged  to  make  to  the 
Department  of  Labor  suggestions  for  the  safeguarding  of  ma- 
chinery and  these  suggestions  should  be  incorporated  in  the  de- 
partment's bulletin.  The  experts  of  the  department  may  very 
easily  in  the  course  of  their  visits  to  different  cities  give  lectures 
on  accident  prevention  and  safety  devices,  and  be  consulted  by 
manufacturers. 

The  department  should  make  it  clear  that  the  prevention  of 
accidents  is  not  only  a  humanitarian  instinct  but  is  a  sound  busi- 
ness method.  It  pays  both  employer  and  employee  in  dollars 
and  cents. 

There  is  a  great  deal  for  the  department  to  do  in  this  branch 
of  its  activities.  The  people  of  the  state  in  return  for  the  in- 
creased facilities  they  have  given  the  department  will  demand 
immediate  results  in  the  matter  of  the  prevention  of  industrial  ac- 
cidents and  we  hope  that  the  department  will  prove  equal  to  the 
task. 

WORKMEN'S  COMPENSATION  LAW 

We  have  made  no  special  study  of  this  subject  but  we  feel 
that  the  report  of  any  commission  which  has  investigated  general 
factory  conditions  is  not  complete  without  a  strong  and  earnest 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  243 

plea  for  the  enactment  of  a  proper  and  just  workmen's  com- 
pensation law,  that  will  place  the  burden  of  an  industrial  ac- 
cident on  the  industry  as  represented  by  the  employer  rather 
than  on  the  unfortunate  victim  of  the  industry,  and  that  will 
provide  just  and  fair  compensation  to  workers  or  their  families 
for  death  or  injury  caused  .by  accident  in  the  course  of  em- 
ployment. 


244  REPORT  or  COMMISSION. 

X. 

DANGEROUS  TRADES 

One  of  the  most  important  industrial  problems  of  the  day  is  the 
protection  of  factory  workers  from  industrial  poisoning  and  occu- 
pational diseases.  There  are  in  many  industries  specific  dangers 
connected  with  the  trade  which  create  certain  pathological  condi- 
tions to  which  much  of  the  ill-health  and  premature  death  of 
workers  are  due.  Investigations  made  in  European  countries  show 
the  large  variety  and  number  of  diseases  directly  attributable  to 
occupational  hazards. 

From  the  beginning  of  its  inquiry  the  Commission  has  made  a 
special  study  of  industrial  poisoning.  In  1911  an  investigation 
was  made  into  lead  and  arsenic  poisoning  in  New  York  City  in 
which  one  hundred  cases  of  lead  poisoning  were  described  and  their 
origin  in  nearly  every  instance  traced  to  industrial  establishments. 
As  a  result  of  this  investigation  the  Commission  submitted  to  the 
last  legislature  a  bill  providing  for  hot  and  cold  water  washing 
facilities  where  poisonous  substances  were  used  or  generated  in  the 
process  of  manufacture,  prohibiting  the  eating  of  meals  in  work- 
rooms in  which  such  poisonous  substances  were  generated,  and  pro- 
viding for  separate  lunch  rooms  in  such  establishments.  This  bill 
was  passed  and  has  become  a  law. 

In  1912  the  Commission  conducted  the  following  investigations: 

1.  General  conditions  in  the  chemical  industry. 

2.  Dangers  to  workers  in  the  manufacture  and  use  of  com- 
mercial acids. 

3.  Further    study    of    lead    poisoning    in    various    up-state 
factories. 

4.  The  production,  refining  and  use  of  wood  alcohol  and  its 
dangers. 

5.  Study  of  diseases  of  the  ear  and  upper  respiratory  tract 
among  workers  in  the  ostrich  feather,  fur,  and  cordage  industries. 


REPORT  OP  COMMISSION.  245 

THE  CHEMICAL  INDUSTRY 

The  investigations  in  the  chemical  industry  covered  142  estab- 
lishments in  which  there  were  359  separate  factories,  and  in  which 
11,087  wage  earners  were  employed. 

In  no  other  industry  are  perils  to  the  body  and  dangers  to  the 
health  of  the  workers  so  many,  so  insidious,  and  so  deadly  as  in  the 
chemical  industry.  The  workers  come  in  direct,  close,  and  daily 
contact  with  lead,  arsenic,  mercury,  phosphorus,  and  other  power- 
ful poisons.  Injurious  gases  and  harmful  fumes  are  generated  in 
many  of  the  various  processes.  Irritating  dusts,  excessively  high 
temperatures  and  burning  or  spurting  liquids  are  to  be  found  in 
most  of  the  factories.  Yet  there  is  hardly  an  industry  in  the 
United  States  in  which  there  is  less  protection  to  the  health  and 
welfare  of  the  workers.  In  European  countries  the  chemical 
industry  is  carefully  regulated.  There  they  have  special  rules 
and  regulations  for  the  control  of  working  conditions  in  the  indus- 
try that  are  designed  to  safeguard  the  lives  of  the  workers;  but 
in  this  country  we  are  just  awakening  to  the  dangers  of  this 
industry  and  to  the  necessity  for  resorting  to  every  possible  safe 
guard  to  protect  the  lives  of  the  workers  in  it. 

The  general  sanitary  conditions  in  the  establishments  inspected 
were  found  to  be  poor.  The  washing  facilities  were  inadequate, 
toilets  unclean,  and  in  many  cases  located  a  considerable  distance 
from  the  factory  building  proper. 

The  special  dangers  to  the  workers  found  in  the  chemical  trade 
may  be  summed  up  as  follows:  Gases,  fumes,  poisonous  dusts, 
and  accidental  injuries.  Where  in  other  trades  a  poisonous  in- 
gredient is  used  occasionally  and  poisonous  gas  and  fumes  are 
generated  at  intervals,  in  the  chemical  trade  they  are  regularly 
present  in  most  of  the  working  processes. 

In  no  other  industry  is  a  knowledge  of  the  poisonous  substances 
which  are  handled,  so  necessary  to  the  worker;  but  in  no  other 
industry  is  the  ignorance  of  the  worker  as  to  the  character  of  daily 
substances  with  which  he  works,  so  complete. 

Constant  contact  with  dangerous  elements  in  the  trade  and  daily 
familiarity  with  them  breeds  a  consequent  contempt  on  the  part  of 
the  employers  and  workers,  and  a  recklessness  and  carelessness 


246  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

which  result  yearly  in  countless  numbers  of  cases  of  disease,  acci- 
dent, and  death. 

Repeatedly  our  inspectors  found  men  handling  poisonous  ma- 
terials such  as  paris  green  and  carbonate  of  lead  with  less  thought 
than  if  these  dangerous  substances  were  sand  or  flour.  In  some 
of  the  factories  visited,  although  the  faces  and  clothes  of  the 
workers  and  all  exposed  parts  of  their  bodies  were  thickly  covered 
with  poisonous  dusts  or  colors,  they  took  not  the  least  precaution 
against  ingesting  or  inhaling  these  materials.  In  one  plant  that 
manufactured  paris  green,  workers  were  found  handling  and  pack- 
ing this  poisonous  material,  some  without  gloves  and  all  without 
respirators.  The  manufacture  of  bleaches  and  bleach  powders  is 
fraught  with  many  dangers  to  the  workers,  but  it  is  without  any 
official  supervision  or  protection  of  the  workers.  The  English 
alkali  act  makes  special  and  detailed  provisions  for  the  control  of 
this  industry  and  the  protection  of  its  workers ;  the  amount  of  free 
chlorine  gas  in  the  air  of  the  bleach  chamber,  the  time  a  worker 
may  stay  therein  and  many  other  details  of  this  branch  of  the  trade 
are  minutely  described  and  the  strictest  supervision  is  maintained. 

Dust 

Dusty  processes  are  common  to  many  industries  and  the  dangers 
of  dust  as  a  predisposing  cause  to  tuberculosis  and  other  respira- 
tory diseases  are  not  confined  to  the  chemical  trade.  The  prob- 
lem of  dust  elimination  is  one  of  the  most  important  in  industrial 
hygiene.  The  dust  in  chemical  works  is  especially  dangerous, 
owing  to  the  fact  that  it  is  mostly  of  mineral  origin ;  it  is  often 
poisonous  and  produces  not  only  the  irritating  effects  of  ordinary 
dusts  but  also  the  toxic  effects  of  the  poison.  In  almost  all 
chemical  establishments  a  profusion  of  dust  is  created  in  the  vari- 
ous grinding  and  packing  departments. 

The  Commission  personally  visited  one  of  the  principal  car- 
borundum factories  in  the  state.  Although  the  manufacture  of 
carborundum  is  not  strictly  a  chemical  process,  the  dust  in  some 
of  the  rooms  was  so  great  as  to  hide  even  the  form  of  the  workers 
from  view.* 

*  Since  the  visit  of  the  Commission  this  plant  has  installed  a  ventilating 
system  at  the  cost  of  several  thousands  of  dollars. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION*.  247 

Temperature 

In  many  of  the  chemical  establishments,  extremely  high  temper- 
atures are  created  and  the  furnaces  are  in  constant  use.  The  work 
in  front  of  the  furnaces  and  at  short  distances  from  them  is,  there- 
fore, very  exhausting.  The  temperature  in  one  place  near  the 
furnace  was  said  by  the  superintendent  of  the  factory  to  be  be- 
tween 120°  and  140°  F.,  and  the  heat  and  glare  were  so  over- 
powering that  the  men  had  to  kneel  and  stoop  and  hold  something 
over  their  eyes  in  order  to  continue  their  work. 

COMMERCIAL,  ACIDS 

Under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Charles  F.  McKenna  a  special 
study  was  made  for  the  Commission  of  the  dangers  to  workers 
in  the  manufacture  and  use  of  commercial  acids.  The  general 
conditions  in  acid  works  were  examined  and  the  manufacture  of 
the  principal  acids  such  as  sulphuric,  nitric,  acetic,  hydrochloric, 
hydrofluoric,  and  hydrocyanic  was  investigated. 

The  manufacture  of  acids  is  associated  in  the  mind  of  the  gen- 
eral public  with  notions  of  great  hazard  to  life  and  health.  This 
idea  is  due  largely  to  the  mystery  surrounding  the  processes  and 
substances  involved.  In  many  acid  works  the  conditions  and 
often  the  substances  themselves  are  incapable  of  causing  serious 
dangers  or  producing  any  special  disease.  Yet  it  is  true  that 
this  industry  when  viewed  generally  presents  hazards  for  its 
workmen  which  are  terrifying  and  unnecessarily  numerous. 
"Workmen  in  these  trades  are  still  to-day  too  lightly  exposed  to 
danger,  too  carelessly  supervised,  and  hence,  far  too  often  injured. 
Particularly  is  this  true  where  the  influences  are  insidious  and 
noticeable  only  as  the  result  of  careful  observation.  In  these 
situations,  occupational  diseases  come  slowly  but  none  the  less 
surely. 

Classified  statistics  in  the  chemical  industries  furnishing  data  to 
expose  the  hygienic  state  of  acid  works,  are  entirely  wanting. 
Mortality  from  insidious  cases  cannot  be  traced.  Accidents  are 
not  all  reported  and  investigations  of  reported  cases  are  rarely 
made,  and,  if  made,  do  not  find  their  way  into  the  public  printed 
records. 


248  REPOBT  OF  COMMISSION. 

ACCIDENTS 

In  this  state  there  are  no  special  regulations  for  the  chemical 
trades,  with  their  peculiar  hazards.  The  result  is  that  the  acci- 
dent rate  in  this  industry  is  much  greater  in  New  York  State  than 
in  England,  Germany,  and  France.  Most  of  these  accidents  are 
the  result  of  carelessness.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  go  into  any 
acid  plant  without  finding  that  risks  exist  from  half-concealed 
openings,  unguarded  stairways,  slippery  floors,  uncovered  and  im- 
properly guarded  vats,  improperly  supported  conduits  used  for 
carrying  corrosive  liquids.  A  striking  example  was  witnessed  by 
the  Commission  while  inspecting  a  manufactory  of  caustic  potash. 
Liquid  caustic  was  being  sent  through  several  sections  of  a  shal- 
low, iron  trough,  these  sections  being  supported  by  several  wooden 
blocks  at  the  junctions.  The  process  was  carried  on  in  a  dimly 
lighted  place.  The  workmen  frequently  passed  under  the  trough 
without  any  thought  apparently  that  the  dislodgment  of  one  of 
these  blocks  might  mean  instant  death  by  downpour  of  the  burn- 
ing liquid.  The  man  in  charge,  when  asked  why  this  was  per- 
mitted, simply  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  said  that  the  men  knew 
that  it  was  dangerous  —  so  he  made  no  effort  to  stop  them. 

LEAD  POISONING 

The  investigation  of  lead  poisoning  commenced  in  1911  was 
supplemented  in  1912  by  a  study  of  conditions  in  up-state  plants 
in  which  lead  was  used  in  the  process  of  manufacture,  by  Dr. 
Charles  T.  Graham-Rogers  of  the  Department  of  Labor. 

Dr.  Rogers'  investigations  showed  that  there  was  the  same  lack 
of  precautions  to  prevent  lead  poisoning  as  had  been  found  in 
New  York  City.  In  a  number  of  plants  which  the  Commission 
inspected,  practically  no  precautions  were  taken  to  prevent  this 
disease.  In  a  large  lead  battery  plant  most  of  the  workers  in  the 
foundry  were  seen  handling  the  lead  without  gloves  or  other  pro- 
tection from  the  dust.  Among  the  workers  were  a  number  of 
boys  between  16  and  18  years.  Upon  inquiry  they  asserted  that 
they  had  received  no  instructions  as  to  the  dangers  involved.  There 
was  no  hot  water  for  washing  the  hands,  nor  any  special  lunch 
room  for  their  use.  One  pot  in  which  lead  was  being  heated  was 
without  any  hood  and  discharged  its  poisonous  fumes  into  the 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  249 

workroom.     Many  cases  of  acute  and  chronic  lead  poisoning  were 
traced  to  this  plant  by  our  investigators. 

Lead  poisoning  can  be  prevented  in  nearly  every  case  if  very 
simple  precautions  are  taken  to  guard  against  the  disease.  Yet 
case  after  case  of  lead  poisoning  has  been  called  to  the  attention 
of  the  Commission  due  to  a  disregard  of  the  most  elementary 
principles  of  personal  hygiene. 

Dr.  Rogers  in  his  report  has  made  some  valuable  suggestions  for 
requirements  in  industries  in  which  lead  is  prepared  or  used.  We 
do  not  believe,  however,  that  it  is  advisable  to  incorporate  these  in 
a  statute  but  recommend  that  they  be  used  by  the  Industrial  Board 
as  the  basis  of  detailed  and  comprehensive  rules  and  regulations 
for  the  prevention  of  lead  poisoning  in  the  various  affected 
industries. 

WOOD  ALCOHOL 

The  steadily  increasing  number  of  cases  of  poisoning  by  wood 
alcohol  reported  in  recent  years  made  it  advisable  for  the  Com- 
mission to  investigate  the  conditions  under  which  wood  alcohol  is 
prepared,  refined,  and  used  in  different  industries  and  the  dangers 
to  which  workers  coming  in  contact  with  it  in  its  different  forms 
are  subjected. 

There  are  two  main  aspects  of  the  wood  alcohol  problem. 

1.  The  drinking  of  wood  alcohol  and  its  use  in  liquors,  ex- 
tracts, and  drugs. 

2.  The  inhalation  of  its  vapors  when  it  is  prepared  and  refined 
and  used  in  various  processes  in  different  industries,  and  the  in- 
halation of  its  fumes  in  varnish  preparations. 

With  the  first  aspect  of  the  problem  this  Commission  is  not 
directly  concerned.  The  only  solution  of  it  is  the  education  of 
the  public  to  a  fuller  appreciation  of  the  dangers  involved  in  the 
use  of  wood  alcohol  in  any  form  for  internal  purposes  and  the 
more  effective  enforcement  of  the  present  provisions  of  the  law 
prohibiting  the  use  of  wood  alcohol  in  any  food,  flavoring,  extract, 
or  liquid  capable  of  being  used  in  whole  or  in  part  as  a  beverage  or 
internally  as  a  medicine  (Sec.  201  of  the  Agricultural  Law  of 
N.  Y.). 


250  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

The  Commission  is  deeply  interested,  however,  in  the  second  as- 
pect of  the  problem,  i.  e.,  the  danger  of  wood  alcohol  in  industry. 
Within  the  past  year  four  deaths  and  four  cases  of  blindness  have 
been  reported  to  the  state  labor  department  caused  by  the  inhala- 
tion of  wood  alcohol  fumes  from  varnish  used  to  shellac  the  interior 
of  beer  vats  and  for  coating  lead  pencils. 

Scope  of  the  Commission's  Investigation 

The  investigation  into  this  subject  was  carried  on  under  the 
direction  of  Dr.  Charles  Baskerville,  Professor  of  Chemistry  of 
The  College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  who  rendered  his  services 
without  compensation  and  whose  detailed  and  comprehensive  re- 
port is  set  forth  in  Appendix  VI. 

Forty-five  establishments  were  inspected  covering  three  general 
types:  (1)  Those  in  which  crude  wood  alcohol  is  produced  by  the 
destructive  distillation  of  wood.  (2)  Those  in  which  the  crude 
product  is  refined.  (3)  Those  in  which  wood  alcohol  is  used  gen- 
erally as  a  solvent. 

The  dangers  to  the  workmen  engaged  either  in  the  production 
or  refinement  of  crude  wood  alcohol  are  not  very  great.  Many  of 
the  processes  are  carried  on  in  closed  chambers  and  proper  ventila- 
tion is  invariably  provided.  In  such  establishments  the  dangers 
are  clearly  recognized  and  are  guarded  against. 

Wood  alcohol  is  used  also  in  different  forms  and  quantities  in  a 
large  number  of  industries,  the  most  important  being  the  manu- 
facture of  hats,  electrical  apparatus,  furniture,  pianos,  organs,  and 
in  the  painting  industry. 

The  workers  in  many  places  where  wood  alcohol  was  used  were 
found  to  be  affected  with  eye  trouble,  headaches,  and  affections  of 
the  skin. 

The  dangers  to  the  workers  are  due  to  exposure  to  the  vapor  of 
the  alcohol  and  to  constant  contact  of  the  liquid  with  the  skin. 
Such  dangers  are  not  inherent  in  the  nature  of  the  processes  in- 
volved and  could  be  avoided  by  the  application  of  comparatively 
simple  precautionary  methods.  Through  neglect  and  indifference 
and  in  many  cases  because  of  ignorance  of  the  injurious  effects  of 
wood  alcohol  no  precautions  are  taken  to  protect  the  workers  from 
its  toxic  influences. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  251 

Girls  are  employed  in  processes  in  which  wood  alcohol  is  used 
and  it  is  essential  that  they  be  properly  protected  from  these  in- 
jurious effects.  Practically  all  of  the  dangers  connected  with  the 
use  of  wood  alcohol  in  industry  could  be  obviated  by  the  provi- 
sion and  maintenance  of  ample  ventilation  and  by  giving  instruc- 
tions to  the  workers  of  the  dangers  connected  with  its  use. 

RECOMMENDATIONS 

Laws  for  the  protection  of  workers  in  dangerous  trades,  and  for 
the  prevention  of  industrial  poisoning  and  diseases  should  be 
drawn  recognizing  that  conditions  in  the  industries  affected  are 
constantly  changing,  that  long-settled  practices  are  being 
abandoned  and  new  processes  and  new  substances  are  constantly 
coming  into  use. 

A  state  legislature  can  hardly  be  expected  to  take  up  and 
thoroughly  test  at  each  session  the  new  problems  of  the  year  in 
the  hygienic  control  of  dangerous  trades.  The  conditions  in 
many  industries  vary  so  greatly  and  the  factors  affecting  the 
health  and  safety  of  the  workers  are  so  dissimilar  not  only  in  these 
industries,  but  in  different  parts  of  the  same  establishment  that 
no  general  laws  can  be  enacted  which  would  be  applicable  to 
all  industries  and  all  establishments  and  which  would  cover 
adequately  the  many  elements  of  danger  and  hazardous  processes 
in  them.  Each  industry  and  each  process  must  be  studied 
separately  in  order  to  determine  its  danger.  Any  law  enacted  on 
this  subject  should  be  general  in  application  and  the  Industrial 
Board  should  be  empowered  to  make  specific  rules  and  regula- 
tions. Great  Britain  has  adopted  this  plan  successfully.  The 
Industrial  Board  would  have  the  power  to  consult  experts  and  to 
form  voluntary  committees.  Very  soon  a  comprehensive  set  of 
rules  and  regulations  covering  dangerous  trades  and  the  preven- 
tion of  occupational  diseases  wrould  be  enacted  which  could  be 
augmented  or  modified  as  conditions  required. 

The  division  of  industrial  hygiene  and  the  section  of  medical 
inspection  recommended  in  the  first  portion  of  this  report  will  make 
the  necessary  technical  inspections  in  these  trades  and  as  a  result 
of  their  investigations,  will  be  able  to  submit  to  the  Industrial 
Board  recommendations  for  rules  and  regulations  to  be  adopted 
for  the  protection  of  the  health  and  safety  of  the  workers. 


252  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

Industrial  Board  to  Make  Rules  and  Regulations  for  Dangerous 

Trades 

We  recommend  therefore  the  enactment  of  the  following  law: 

§  97.  Dangerous  trades.  Whenever  the  industrial  board 
shall  find,  as  a  result  of  its  investigations,  that  any  industry, 
trade  or  occupation  by  reason  of  the  nature  of  the  materials 
used  therein  or  the  products  thereof  or  by  reason  of  the 
methods  or  processes  or  machinery  or  apparatus  employed 
therein  or  by  reason  of  any  other  matter  or  thing  connected 
with  such  industry,  trade  or  occupation,  contains  such 
elements  of  danger  to  the  lives,  health  or  safety  of  persons 
employed  therein  as  to  require  special  regulation  for  the 
protection  of  such  persons,  said  board  shall  have  power  to 
make  such  special  rules  and  regulations  as  it  may  deem 
necessary  to  guard  against  such  elements  of  danger  by  es- 
tablishing requirements  as  to  temperature,  humidity,  the  re- 
moval of  dusts,  gases  or  fumes  and  requiring  licenses  to  be 
applied  for  and  issued  by  the  commissioner  of  labor  as  a  con- 
dition of  carrying  on  any  such  industry,  trade  or  occupation 
and  requiring  medical  inspection  and  supervision  of  persons 
employed  and  applying  for  employment  and  by  other 
appropriate  means.* 

This  proposed  bill  would  give  the  Industrial  Board  full  power 
over  the  licensing  of  dangerous  trades,  the  medical  supervision  of 
the  employees,  the  removal  of  dust,  gases,  and  fumes  and  would 
enable  the  board  to  make  special  rules  and  regulations  based  upon 
expert  investigation  and  opinion,  for  the  different  industries 
involved. 

Special  Ventilation 

The  importance  of  special  ventilation  in  these  industries  can 
hardly  be  overestimated.  Ample  provision  should  be  made  at  all 
times  for  the  removal  of  dust,  gases,  and  fumes  injurious  to  the 
health  of  the  workers  so  as  to  prevent  their  inhalation  by  the 
workers.  We  therefore  recommend  that  the  following  subdivi- 
sions be  added  to  section  eighty-six  of  the  labor  law: 

2.  //  dust,  gases,  fumes,  vapors,  fibers  or  other  impurities 
are  generated  or  released  in  the  course  of  the  business  carried 

*  Bill   24,   Appendix   I. 


REPOET  OF  COMMISSION.  253 

on  in  any  workroom  of  a  factory,  in  quantities  tending  to 
injure  the  health  of  the  operatives,  the  person,  persons,  com- 
pany or  corporation  operating  the  factory,  whether  as  owner 
or  lessee  of  the  whole  or  of  a  part  of  the  building  in  which 
the  same  is  situated,  or  otherwise,  shall  provide  suction  de- 
vices that  shall  remove  said  impurities  from  the  workroom, 
af,  their  point  of  origin  where  practicable,  by  means  of  proper 
hoods  connected  to  conduits  and  exhaust  fans  of  sufficient 
capacity  to  remove  such  impurities,  and  such  fans  shall  be 
kept  running  constantly  while  such  impurities  are  being 
generated  or  released.  If,  owing  to  the  nature  of  the  manu- 
facturing process  carried  on  in  a  factory  workroom,  exces- 
sive heat  be  created  therein  the  person  or  persons  operating 
the  factory  as  aforesaid  shall  provide,  maintain,  use  and 
operate  such  special  means  or  appliances  as  may  be  required 
to  reduce  such  excessive  heat. 

3.  The  industrial  board  shall  have  power  to  make  rules 
»nd  regulations  not  inconsistent  with  the  provisions  of  this 
chapter  regulating  ventilation,  temperature  and  humidity  in 
factories  and  the  special  means,  if  any,  required  for  removing 
impurities  or  for  reducing  excessive  heat,  and  the  machinery, 
apparatus  or  appliances  to  be  used  for  any  of  said  purposes, 
and  the  construction,  equipment,  maintenance  and  operation 
thereof  in  order  to  effectuate  the  purposes  of  this  section.* 

Covering  of  Vats 

For  the  prevention  of  accidents  due  to  uncovered  and  unguarded 
vats  we  recommend  that  the  following  provision  be  inserted  in 
§  81  of  the  labor  law : 

"  Every  vat  and  pan  wherever  set  so  that  the-  opening  or 
top  thereof  is  at  a  lower  level  than  the  elbow  of  the  operator 
or  operators  at  work  about  the  same  shall  be  protected  by  a 
cover  which  shall  be  maintained  over  the  same  while  in  use 
in  such  manner  as  to  effectually  prevent  such  operators  or 
other  persons  falling  therein  or  coming  in  contact  therewith, 
except  that  where  it  is  necessary  to  remove  such  cover  while 
any  such  vat  or  pan  is  in  use,  such  vat  or  pan  shall  be  pro- 
tected by  an  adequate  railing  around  the  same."^ 

•  Bill   20,   Appendix  I. 
t  Bill    22,   Appendix  I. 


254  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

Labeling  of  Containers  of  Wood  Alcohol 

We  recommend  an  amendment  to  the  public  health  law  to  the 
effect  that  all  bottles  or  vessels  used  for  transporting  or  selling 
products  containing  wood  alcohol  shall  be  required  to  bear  a  prom- 
inent display  label  stating  that  they  contain  poison  and  calling 
attention  to  the  danger  of  working  with  the  material  without 
ample  ventilation.* 

Educational  Work 

The  opportunities  for  educational  work  in  this  field  are  un- 
limited. In  most  cases  the  employees  and  in  very  many  cases 
the  employers  are  ignorant  of  the  dangers  involved  in  their  in- 
dustries. The  Department  of  Labor  should  issue  bulletins  calling 
attention  to  the  injurious  elements  in  an  industry  and  the  precau- 
tions to  be  taken  to  guard  against  them.  Such  bulletins  should  be 
printed  in  the  language  of  the  employees  and  distributed  among 
them. 

*  Bill    27,   Appendix   I. 


REPOKT  OF  COMMISSION.  255 


XI. 

FOUNDKIES    AND    EMPLOYMENT    OF    WOMEN    IN 

COEE  EOOMS 

FOUNDKIES 

The  necessity  for  marked  improvement  in  sanitary  conditions 
in  the  iron,  steel,  and  brass  foundries  of  the  state  is  unquestioned. 
The  occupation  is  an  arduous  one.  The  workers  are  subjected  in 
the  course  of  the  day  to  extremes  of  temperature.  They  are  con- 
stantly exposed  to  the  inhalation  of  mineral  and  metallic  dust. 
The  result  is  that  the  workers  in  this  industry  are  peculiarly 
susceptible  to  all  forms  of  respiratory  diseases,  kidney  trouble, 
and  rheumatism. 

There  are  no  official  vital  statistics  of  foundry  workers  in  this 
country.  The  recorded  industrial  insurance  mortality  statistics 
show,  however,  an  excessive  mortality  rate  from  consumption 
among  foundry  workers,  which  becomes  marked  between  the  ages 
of  twenty-five  and  thirty-four, —  a  time  when  the  workers  are 
in  the  very  prime  of  life.  Moreover,  the  liability  to  accident  in 
a  foundry  is  great. 

The  statistical  data  available,  considered  in  conjunction  with 
careful  observation  of  working  conditions,  show  that  employment 
in  this  industry  is  more  or  less  injurious  to  health.  All  reasonable 
measures  calculated  to  promote  greater  safety  and  health  for  em- 
ployees in  foundries  should  not  only  be  insisted  upon  by  the  state, 
but  should  be  welcomed  by  the  foundry  owners  themselves. 

Legislation  for  the  improvement  of  conditions  in  foundries  is 
not  special  or  class  legislation.  We  have  on  the  statute  books 
to-day  special  requirements  for  bakeries,  laundries,  mercantile 
establishments,  and  places  where  poisonous  materials  are  used  in 
the  process  of  manufacture. 

A  foundry  is  in  many  respects  unlike  the  ordinary  factory.  It 
presents  different  conditions  for  which  special  provision  should 
be  made. 

The  measures  to  be  enacted  for  the  improvement  of  working 
conditions  in  foundries  have  received  the  Commission's  careful 


256  HEPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

consideration.  We  visited  a  number  of  foundries  and  took  the  tes- 
timony of  foundry  owners  and  representatives  of  molders'  organ- 
izations in  the  different  cities  of  the  state  in  which  we  held  public 
hearings.  Some  of  the  employees  in  foundries  testified  before 
the  Commission  in  executive  session.  The  Commission  then  incor- 
porated in  a  tentative  bill  the  recommendations  that  had  been 
received  from  different  sources  and  copies  of  the  proposed  bill 
were  sent  to  foundry  owners  and  representatives  of  molders'  or- 
ganizations throughout  the  state  for  their  suggestions  and 
criticisms. 

On  November  25th,  1912,  a  public  hearing  was  held  in  Albany 
to  consider  the  proposed  foundry  bill  and  to  receive  suggestions 
for  remedial  legislation  from  all  those  interested.  The  hearing 
was  largely  attended.  The  Commissioner  of  the  National  Found- 
ers' Association  appeared  not  only  on  behalf  of  the  seventy-eight 
members  of  his  organization  in  the  state  of  IsTew  York,  but  as  the 
authorized  representative  of  a  large  number  of  other  foundry 
owners  in  the  state  who  did  not  belong  to  that  organization.  There 
were  also  present  about  twenty  foundry  owners  and  the  same 
number  of  representatives  of  molders'  unions. 

We  were  impressed  by  the  attitude  taken  by  the  foundry  owners 
as  a  whole,  concerning  the  advantages  of  improvement  in  work- 
ing conditions  in  their  establishments.  The  Commissioner  of  the 
National  Association  of  Founders  said: 

"  I  have  been  devoting  considerable  of  my  time  in  endeav- 
oring to  get  the  foundry  owners  throughout  the  country  to 
bring  about  better  working  conditions  which  go  far  beyond 
anything  you  have  suggested  in  these  measures  *  *  *  It 
is  a  business  proposition  cutting  out  the  philanthropy  and  all 
that  sort  of  thing." 

A  very  conservative  foundry  owner  who  was  present  stated: 

"  We  believe  the  most  efficiency  is  obtained  by  men  who 
are  surrounded  by  good  conditions  and  who  are  in  well  heated 
rooms  free  from  gas,  dust,  and  smoke,  and  furnished  with 
water,  good  washing  and  bathing  facilities." 

These  statements  reflect  a  new  attitude  on  the  part  of  manu- 
facturers that  is  everywhere  appearing  in  the  state  of  Xew  York, 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  257 

and  one  that  is  full  of  promise  for  the  future.  We  have  care- 
fully considered  all  of  the  suggestions  and  criticisms  that  were 
made  at  the  hearings  in  Albany  and  in  other  cities  of  the  state 
and  as  a  result  submit  the  following  recommendations. 

HEATING  OF  FOUNDRIES  AND  PREVENTION  OF  DRAFTS 

In  a  great  many  of  the  foundries  no  provision  is  made  for 
heating  the  foundry  in  cold  weather.  The  result  is  that  the 
worker  is  subjected  to  extremes  of  temperature  and  is  exposed 
to  cold  often  while  in  a  perspiring  condition. 

Anyone  who  has  ever  been  in  a  foundry  will  recognize  the  ne- 
cessity for  the  requirement  that  entrances  to  the  foundry  shall 
be  so  constructed  and  maintained  as  to  minimize  drafts.  Doors 
should  be  kept  vestibuled  so  that  cold  outer  air  will  not  blow 
upon  the  overheated  molder. 

It  is  recommended,  therefore,  that  all  foundries  shall  be  prop- 
erly and  sufficiently  heated  during  cold  weather  and  that  en- 
trances to  foundries  shall  be  so  constructed  and  maintained  as  to 
minimize  drafts  and  that  all  windows  therein  shall  be  maintained 
in  proper  condition  and  repair. 

PROPER  VENTILATION 

From  the  nature  of  the  business  there  must  be  smoke  and  dust 
and  gases  in  a  foundry.  This  fact  only  emphasizes,  however, 
the  necessity  for  a  prompt  and  effective  removal  of  these  dele- 
terious substances.  Where  necessary,  a  forced  system  of  ventila- 
tion with  exhaust  fans  of  sufficient  capacity  and  power  should 
be  required. 

Conditions  so  far  as  ventilation  is  concerned  can  never  be  ideal 
in  a  foundry,  but  every  possible  precaution  should  be  taken  to 
minimize  the  danger  from  dust  which,  as  statistics  show,  renders 
the  foundry  worker  very  susceptible  to  pulmonary  troubles. 

The  milling  and  cleaning  of  castings  in  a  foundry  will  be  con- 
sidered later  in  this  report. 
17 


258  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

MEASURES  TO  PREVENT  ACCIDENTS 

Accidents  in  foundries  are  of  frequent  occurrence.  They  are 
caused  mainly  by  the  following  conditions: 

1.  Inadequate  lighting. 

2.  Narrow  and  obstructed  gangways. 

During  casting  time  when  the  molder  is  carrying  the  ladles  of 
heated  molten  lead  these  narrow  and  obstructed  gangways  con- 
stitute an  element  of  special  danger  and  are  the  cause  of  many 
serious  burns. 

3.  Defective  ladles,  tongs,  chains,  and  other  lifting  devices. 

For  the  prevention  of  accidents  the  Commission  therefore  makes 
the  following  recommendations: 

1.  All  foundries  shall  be  properly  lighted  during  working  hours. 

2.  The  gangways  in  foundries  shall  be  constructed  and  main- 
tained of  sufficient  width  to  make  the  use  thereof  by  employees 
reasonably  safe,  and  such  gangways  during  the  progress  of  cast- 
ing shall  not  be  obstructed  in  any  way. 

3.  The  flasks,  molding  machines,  ladles,  cranes,  and  apparatus 
for  transporting  molten  metal  in  foundries  shall  be  maintained 
in  proper  condition  and  repair. 

WASHING  FACILITIES 

Workers  in  foundries  are  exposed  to  a  great  deal  of  dust.  The 
cores  and  molds  are  made  of  sand  and  after  a  day's  toil,  health 
and  decency  require  that  the  worker  be  aiforded  'every  oppor- 
tunity to  cleanse  himself  and  to  change  his  working  clothes. 

Although  recognizing  the  advisability  of  having  adequate  wash- 
ing facilities  in  a  foundry,  many  foundry  owners  have  called 
attention  to  the  fact  that  installation  of  these  often  involves 
useless  expense,  because  the  men  will  not  use  them.  In  some 
cases  this  is  undoubtedly  true,  but  it  will  often  be  found  that 
the  failure  to  use  the  washing  facilities  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
those  furnished  are  inadequate  or  that  they  are  placed  in  remote 
or  inaccessible  parts  of  the  building.  Sometimes  they  consist  of 
troughs  to  be  used  by  the  workmen  in  common,  an  arrangement 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  259 

that  is  plainly  objectionable  and  not  conducive  to  habits  of  clean- 
liness. But  simply  because  some  workers  will  not  use  the  wash- 
ing facilities  is  no  reason  for  saying  that  they  should  not  be 
supplied.  The  workers  should  be  encouraged  to  use  them  by  the 
manufacturer  and  by  the  factory  inspector.  The  education  of 
the  worker  will  soon  bring  him  to  an  understanding  of  the  bene- 
fits coming  from  habits  of  personal  cleanliness. 

Special  requirements  for  washing  facilities,  it  was  felt,  should 
not  apply  to  small  foundries  in  which  less  'than  ten  persons  are 
employed,  since  the  expense  of  their  installation  in  such  cases 
would  practically  be  prohibitive.  These  small  foundries  are, 
however,  subject  to  the  general  requirements  of  the  factory  law. 

PASSAGEWAYS  TO  OUTSIDE  WATER  CLOSETS 

In  many  foundries  the  water  closets  are  some  distance  from 
the  foundries,  and  the  workers,  in  order  to  use  them,  are  obliged 
to  go  out  in  the  cold  and  often  inclement  weather  while  they  are 
perspiring  and  overheated. 

The  Commissioner  of  Labor  testified  before  the  Commission : 

"  I  have  never  been  in  a  foundry  yet  where  the  men  do  not 
perspire  rather  freely  and  it  is  a  very  serious  thing  to  require 
these  men  to  go  out  into  the  open  air  while  in  the  heat  of 
their  work.  The  condition  of  their  bodies  is  such  as  to  make 
it  very  hazardous  to  go  out  into  the  open  air,  though  they 
cover  themselves  with  a  coat." 

The  workers  in  such  cases  should  be  protected  against  the 
elements.  Where  water  closets  or  privy  accommodations  are 
permitted  by  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  to  remain  outside  of  the 
foundry,  the  passageway  leading  from  the  foundry  to  the  water 
closets  should  be  so  protected  and  constructed  that  the  employees 
in  passing  back  and  forth  should  not  be  exposed  to  the  outdoor 
atmosphere,  and  the  water  closets  themselves  should  be  properly 
heated  during  cold  weather. 

MILLING  AND  CLEANING  OF  CASTINGS 

The  foregoing  requirements  were  practically  all  approved  by 
the  foundry  owners  as  a  whole.  The  tentative  bill  contained 


260  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

a  provision  that  the  milling  and  cleaning  of  castings  should  be 
done  in  rooms  that  were  not  used  for  any  other  purpose.  To 
this  requirement  serious  objections  were  offered.  It  was  asserted 
that  in  many  cases  this  would  require  a  substantial  change  in 
structural  conditions  and  that  the  requirement  would  work  hard- 
ship, particularly  where  the  foundry  owner  had  provided  a  sys- 
tem of  tumbling  mills  for  the  cleaning  of  castings,  with  a  con- 
necting exhaust  system.  It  was  also  asserted  that  it  would  be 
impossible  to  clean  large  castings  in  a  separate  room. 

Devices  such  as  canvas  curtains,  and  temporary  partitions 
were  called  to  the  attention  of  the  Commission  as  easy  and 
inexpensive  means  of  complying  with  the  requirement.  We 
believe,  therefore,  that  no  hard  and  fast  rule  should  be  made 
and  that  in  a  great  many  cases  a  mandatory  requirement  for  the 
milling  and  cleaning  of  castings  in  a  separate  room  irrespective 
of  conditions,  would  work  unnecessary  hardship. 

The  matter  should  be  left  to  the  Industrial  Board  to  make 
rules  and  regulations  that  would  meet  the  varying  conditions  in 
different  foundries.  We  wish  to  emphasize,  however,  the  neces- 
sity for  providing  every  possible  device  for  the  removal  of  dust 
during  the  cleaning  process,  'so  as  to  prevent  its  inhalation  by 
the  worker.  The  constant  inhalation  of  this  dust  is  a  predispos- 
ing cause  to  tuberculosis  and  accounts  to  a  great  degree  for  the 
high  death  rate  in  that  disease  among  foundry  workers.* 

EMPLOYMENT  OF  WOMEN  IN  CORE  ROOMS 

There  are  about  300  women  employed  in  core  rooms  of  found- 
ries in  this  state.  They  have  been  drawn  into  the  industry  to 
tal\e  the  place  of  boys  under  eighteen  who  had  previously  done 
this  work  and  in  some  cases  they  have  supplanted  men  also.  The 
work  that  the  women  do  at  present  is  limited  to  the  making  of 
small  cores.  The  women  stand  for  the  most  part  all  day  long. 
Although  seats  are  provided  they  are  rarely  used  because  the 
work  is  not  adapted  to  a  sitting  posture. 

The  core  makers  are  exposed  to  dust,  both  metallic  and  min- 
eral. The  core  ovens  are  generally  located  in  the  same  room 
in  which  the  women  make  the  cores.  The  heat  from  the  ovens  is 

*  Bill   25,   Appendix  I. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  261 

enervating  and  the  women  inhale  the  core  gas  which  arises  from 
the  ovens  and  the  baked  cores. 

Even  where  there  are  exhaust  systems  over  the  ovens,  consider- 
able gas  escapes  into  the  room  as  the  Commission  noticed  in  one 
of  the  foundries  visited.  Core  gas  irritates  the  mucous  mem- 
branes of  the  eves,  nose,  throat,  and  bronchial  passages,  and 
causes  nausea  and  headache. 

The  cores  are  placed  in  the  ovens  by  men.  In  some  places 
they  are  carried  to  the  ovens,  from  the  place  in  which  they  are 
made,  by  the  women.  In  others,  men  or  boys  do  this  carrying. 

The  wages  that  women  receive  are  on  an  average  about  $8 
a  week.  Most  of  these  women  are  piece  workers.  It  was  testified 
that  men  would  receive  almost  three  times  as  much  for  the  work. 

There  are  no  satisfactory  vital  statistics  for  women  core 
makers.  '2^o  official  statistics  exist,  but  very  limited  industrial 
insurance  statistics  show  an  excessive  death  rate  from  consump- 
tion among  core  makers  between  fifteen  and  forty-four  years 
of  age. 

The  injurious  effects  of  the  work  are  minimized  because  of 
the  fact  that  the  women  do  not  as  general  rule  continue  to  work 
in  the  industry  for  more  than  four  or  five  years. 

Most  of  the  women  are  of  foreign  birth  though  a  fair  num- 
ber, principally  in  the  smaller  cities,  are  American.  According 
to  the  testimony  given  by  the  foundry  owners,  women  are  em- 
ployed on  small  cores,  because  first,  it  is  difficult  to  secure  the 
services  of  boys  for  that  purpose;  and  second,  the  women  are 
handier,  more  skillful,  and  more  regular  in  their  work  on  small 
cores. 

FOUNDRY  NO  PLACE  FOR  WOMEN 

The  foundry  is  no  place  for  women.  The  work  is  arduous  and 
the  surroundings  are  bad.  We  believe  that  it  would  have  been 
far  better  if  women  had  never  been  originally  allowed  to  enter 
this  employment. 

There  are  to-day,  however,  about  three  hundred  women  earn- 
ing a  livelihood  from  this  work  upon  which  they  are  dependent 
for  their  support.  Many  of  these  have  appealed  to  the  'Commis- 
sion not  to  deprive  them  of  what  they,  in  small  country  towns, 
consider  their  only  means  of  earning  a  living. 


262  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

We  cannot  say  that  work  in  a  core  room  as  such,  is  under  all 
circumstances  and  conditions  absolutely  detrimental  to  a  woman's 
health.  Although  we  should  like  to  see  this  work  stopped,  and 
believe  that  its  suppression  would  be  beneficial  to  the  race,  and 
although  we  know  that  such  a  course  of  action  would  in  no  way 
injure  the  'foundry  industry  of  the  state,  nevertheless  we  cannot 
at  this  time  recommend  an  entire  prohibition  of  work  that  would 
result  in  throwing  the  three  hundred  women  now  in  the  industry 
out  of  employment.  We  believe  that  work  by  women  in  core- 
rooms  should  be  strictly  confined  to  its  present  limits,  and  should 
be  gradually  eliminated.  It  should  be  discouraged  and  ulti- 
mately suppressed.  Every  obstacle  should  be  thrown  in  the  way 
of  its  increase  and  expansion. 

For  the  present,  the  law  should  require  this  work  by  women 
to  be  done  under  the  most  sanitary  conditions.  No  woman  should 
be  permitted  to  make  cores  in  the  same  room  in  which  cores 
are  made  by  men.  ~No  woman  should  be  permitted  to  make  cores 
in  the  same  room  in  which  the  core  oven  is  located.  The  parti- 
tion separating  the  room  in  which  the  women  are  employed  from 
the  core  oven  should  be  a  substantial  structure  extending  to  the 
ceiling  and  the  openings  in  the  partition  should  be  so  arranged 
as  to  prevent  any  gas  from  the  ovens  from  escaping  into  the 
room  in  which  the  women  work. 

The  Industrial  Board  should  be  given  the  power  to  regulate 
the  size  of  the  cores  that  women  shall  be  permitted  to  make  and 
the  weights  that  they  shall  be  permitted  to  carry,  and  generally 
to  make  rules  and  regulations  to  safeguard  the  health  of  the 
women  in  this  employment.  If  it  is  impracticable,  as  some  of 
the  foundry  owners  have  testified,  to  separate  the  room  in  wh'ch 
the  women  are  employed  from  the  core  oven  by  a  substantial 
partition,  so  as  prevent  the  core-gas  from  escaping  into  the  room 
in  which  the  women  work,  these  owners  should  cease  to  employ- 
women  in  work  never  intended  for  them.  We  have  no  sympathy 
for  the  foundry  owner  who  appeared  before  us  and  said  that 
so  far  as  work  in  the  core  room  was  concerned,  there  should  be 
no  distinction  as  to  sex. 

In  this  enlightened  age  very  few  will  be  deceived  by  any  such 
fallacv.  Nature  itself  has  made  the  distinction  which  the 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  263 

foundry  owner  has  said  should  not  be  made.  Instincts  of  chivalry 
and  decency  as  well  as  concern  for  the  preservation  of  the  race, 
demand  that  we  should  not  permit  women  to  engage  in  work 
detrimental  to  their  health,  that  overtaxes  their  strength,  and 
impairs  their  vitality  as  wives  and  mothers. 

The  Commission  has  received  descriptions  of  the  abuses  that 
the  employment  of  women  in  core  rooms  has  led  to  in  other 
states.  We  have  been  told  that  the  cores  on  which  women  orig- 
inally began  to  work  were  of  a  small  size  but  that  to-day  the 
women  are  making  cores  with  a  rammer  and  the  size  of  these 
cores  is  such  that  they  have  to  be  hoisted  by  a  derrick. 

We  believe  if  our  recommendations  are  carried  into  effect  and 
are  enforced  in  the  spirit  which  we  intend,  that  not  only  will  the 
work  by  women  in  the  core  rooms  be  confined  to  what  it  is  to-day 
and  that  too  under  improved  sanitary  conditions,  but  that  in  a 
few  years  such  work  will  be  completely  done  away  with. 

We  have  gone  into  the  matter  very  fully  because  we  believe 
that  our  views  on  this  subject  represent  the  sentiment  of  the 
times.  We  believe  that  these  opinions  are  shared  generally  by 
the  people  of  the  state  who  do  not  wish  to  see  their  women  em- 
ployed at  manual  labor  in  foundries. 

We  recommend  that  such  work  be  restricted,  and  that  where 
it  does  take  place,  it  be  conducted  under  the  most  sanitary  con- 
ditions. We  hope  that  ultimately,  with  the  co-operation  of 
enlightened  foundry  owners,  it  will  be  entirely  done  away  with. 

We  therefore  make  the  following  recommendations  for  reme- 
dial legislation:* 

1.  The  prohibition  of  the  employment  of  women  and  men  core 
makers  in  the  same  room. 

2.  The  prohibition  of  the   employment  of  women  at  making 
cores  in  the  same  room  in  which  the  core  ovens  are  located. 

3.  Authority,  to  the  Industrial  Board  to  make  rules  and  regu- 
lations governing  the  size  of  the  cores  that  women  shall  be  per- 
mitted to  make,  and  the  weights  that  they  shall  carry. 

4.  Authority  to  the  Industrial  Board  to  make  rules  and  regu- 
lations generally  that  shall  safeguard  the  health  of  the  women 
employed  in  the  core  rooms. 

«  Bill  26,   Appendix  I. 


264  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 


XII. 

EMPLOYMENT   OF  WOMEN  AND  CHILDREN  IX 
MERCANTILE  ESTABLISHMENTS 

When  the  Commission  was  continued  by  'the  legislature  in 
1912,  its  powers  were  broadened  to  include  an  investigation  of 
mercantile  establishments.  Attention  had  been  drawn  to  the 
fact  that  thousands  of  women  and  children  were  employed  in 
these  establishments  and  that  no  study  had  been  made  by  the 
state  of  their  conditions  of  labor.  The  Commission  therefore 
undertook  a  special  inquiry  into  the  department  stores  and  five 
and  ten  cent  stores  of  the  state,  which  was  carried  on  during 
the  months  of  November  and  December,  1912.  Four  investi- 
gators were  engaged  in  the  field  work.  Practically  all  depart- 
ment stores  employing  ten  or  more  women  and  children  were 
covered  in  Greater  New  York,  and  as  far  as  possible  in  Buffalo 
and  Rochester,  and  in  the  six  cities  of  the  second  class :  Yonkers, 
Albany,  Troy,  Utica,  Syracuse,  and  Schenectady.  Owing  to  the 
need  of  limiting  the  study  to  stores  employing  at  least  ten  per- 
sons, a  very  large  number  of  small  neighborhood  stores  with 
fewer  than  ten  employees  was  necessarily  omitted. 

Two  hundred  and  sixteen  (216)  establishments  in  all,  were 
inspected.  They  vary  in  size  from  the  largest  New  York  City 
department  stores  each  employing  several  thousand  employees  to 
the  chain  of  small  five  and  ten-cent  stores  which  extends  across 
the  whole  state.  One-third  of  the  entire  number  of  establish- 
ments visited  were  five  and  ten-cent  stores.  Most  of  these  em- 
ploy less  than  fifty  persons  and  none  have  more  than  two  hun- 
dred (200)  employees.  The  department  stores  proper  have  a 
far  larger  labor  force  under  their  roofs;  thirty  employ  more 
than  five  hundred  (500)  persons,  eighteen  have  over  one  thousand 
(1,000)  employees,  and  nine  have  over  two  thousand  (2,000). 


3  

83 

62 

145 

48 

23 

71 

216 

>yees  

47,280 

12,278 

59,558 

1,195 

964 

2,159 

61,717 

>n  

"'J  uOT 

7,583 

36  650 

980 

755 

1,735 

38,385 

ren  

2,655 

1,070 

3,725 

17 

4 

21 

3,746 

f  total  em- 

61.5 

oi.8 

61.5 

82 

78.3 

80.3 

62.2 

5.u 

8.7 

6.3 

1.4 

.4 

1.0 

6.1 

REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  265 

X UMBER  OF  STORES  AND  XUMBER  OF  EMPLOYEES 

Department  Stores.  Five  and  Ten-Cent.  Stores.  Grand 

New  York.  Up  State.  Total.  New  York.  Up  State.  Total.  Total. 
No.    of  stores. 
No.   of  employ 
No.   of  women 
No.    of   children 
Percentagi 
ployees: 
Women  .  . 
Children  . 

The  total  number  of  workers  concerned  in  both  groups  is  far 
greater  than  the  number  of  establishments  would  lead  one  to 
expect,  for  it  amounts  to  the  significant  figure  of  61,717.  The 
women  number  38,385  or  62 °/o,  and  the  children  number  only 
3,746  or  Qc/o  of  the  total.  Since  these  figures  were  collected 
during  the  "  rush "  season  before  Christmas,  they  represent 
approximately  the  maximum  number  employed  in  these  estab- 
lishments at  any  time  of  the  year. 

On  account  of  the  short  time  available  and  the  wide  field  of 
the  inquiry  it  was  necessary  to  confine  this  brief  investigation  to 
a  few  specific  points.  They  were,  in  general:  1.  Physical  con- 
ditions of  work;  2.  Length  of  hours;  3.  Wages  and  earnings. 
It  should  be  noted  that  a  large  majority  of  the  employees  — 
68% — were  women  and  children.  It  was  therefore  appropri- 
ate that  this  preliminary  investigation  should  concern  itself 
exclusively  with  them.  By  limiting  the  study  to  this  scope,  we 
have  been  able  to  collect  information  immediately  concerning 
the  physical  welfare  of  over  40,000  workers. 

Unfortunately  these  cannot  be  enumerated  according  to  their 
ages.  The  children  (14  to  16  years)  form  a  class  by  themselves. 
But  the  records  of  most  of  the  stores  do  not  enable  us  to  classify 
the  female  employees  above  16  years  of  age,  even  to  differentiate 
those  below  from  those  above  21  years  of  age.  It  is  known,  however, 
from  other  sources  that  workers  in  department  stores  are  very 
young.  The  United  States  Census  of  1900  states  that  "three-fifths 
of  the  total  number  of  saleswomen  16  years  of  age  and  over  are 
under  25  years  of  age."  These  data  were  collected  in  1900,  over 
a  decade  ago,  and  the  figures  of  the  last  census  are  not  yet  pub- 
lished. In  the  present  inquiry  time  did  not  suffice  to  make  a 
detailed  enumeration  of  all  female  employees  by  age  groups. 
But  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  same  large  propor- 
tion of  youthful  workers  still  persists. 


BEPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  DEPARTMENT  STORE 

The  organization  of  the  modern  department  store  is  highly 
complex.  No  inquiries  were  made  as  to  the  store  officials  such 
as  managers,  buyers,  etc.  According  to  a  rough  classification,  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  women  and  children  employees  were,  J'or 
the  purpose  of  our  inquiry,  subdivided  into  five  classes :  1.  The 
saleswomen  and  floor  help  (including  floor  cashiers  and  wrap- 
pers) ;  2.  Office  and  audit  help;  3.  Stock  girls;  4.  Packers  and 
shippers;  5.  Mail  order  clerks. 

Nr. \IBKR  AND  PER  CENT  OF  WOMEN  AND  CHILDREN  ACCORDING 
TO  DEPARTMENTS 

No.  %  of  all  women 

1.  Saleswomen 24,234  66 . 1 

2.  Office  help 5,757  15 . 7 

3.  Stock  girls 4,386  12 . 

4.  Packers  and  Shippers 1,382  3 . 8 

5.  Mail  Order  Clerks..                                    891  2.4 


Total  in  Department  Stores 36,650  100. 


Although  these  subdivisions  may  not  be  sharply  defined  in 
every  store,  for  all  practical  purposes  they  correspond  to  the 
divisions  of  the  work. 

The  largest  percentage,  66%  of  all  women  employed,  are  sales- 
women. The  office  help  is  next  in  numbers,  namely,  16%.  It 
includes  audit  girls,  bookkeepers  and  cashiers,  also  the  pneu- 
matic tube  girls  who  act  as  change  makers.  The  stock  girls  con- 
stitute 12%.  They  bring  stock  to  the  counters  and  keep  it  in 
order.  They  are  later  advanced  to  be  saleswomen.  The  packers 
and  shippers  make  up  nearly  4%  of  all  women  employed.  There 
are  only  2%  of  mail  order  clerks. 

The  proportion  of  children,  6%  of  all  employees,  is  decreas- 
ing from  year  to  year  owing  to  the  introduction  of  mechanical 
substitutes,  such  as  the  pneumatic  tube  systems.  Nearly  half  of 
the  stores  employ  no  children  at  all,  but  they  are  still  retained 
in  some  of  the  largest  stores  for  messenger  service  and  the  like. 
Eleven  stores  were  found  to  employ  more  than  one  hundred 
(100)  children  each. 


REPOBT  OF  COMMISSION.  267 

CONDITIONS  OF  WOEK 

The  girl  who  works  in  a  department  store  has,  in  some  respects, 
more  attention  paid  to  her  physical  welfare  than  any  other  class 
of  employees.  In  the  large  establishments  of  the  first-class  cities, 
for  instance,  the  sanitary  conveniences,  such  as  toilets  and  wash- 
rooms, are  generally  clean,  adequate  and  kept  in  good  repair. 
Our  inspectors  reported  that  85%  in  all  stores  were  in  excellent  or 
fair  condition.  Lunch  and  recreation  rooms  are  supplied,  and, 
besides  medical  care,  a  hospital  room  in  charge  of  a  nurse  is  often 
provided,  where  the  girls  are  treated  free  of  charge. 

But  such  expensive  care  is  given  only  to  the  employees  of 
the  largest  establishments.  The  women  and  children  in  the 
smaller  stores  are  not  so  well  provided. 

Merchants  realize  that  any  illness  or  even  physical  discomfort 
interferes  at  once  with  the  efficiency  of  a  saleswoman.  It  is 
therefore  to  their  interest  to  supply  these  women  with  as  comfort- 
able surroundings  as  possible.  Though  these  provisions  are 
made,  the  physical  and  nervous  strain  of  the  work  is  often  over- 
looked or  minimized.  Rest  rooms,  medical  care,  and  other  elab- 
orate welfare  features  can  at  best  only  repair  the  damage  done 
in  the  course  of  the  work.  They  should  not  obscure  the  need 
for  avoiding  rather  than  relieving  the  effects  of  the  fundamental 
hardships  of  the  occupation. 

Employment  in  a  department  store  is  commonly  supposed  to 
be  light  and  easy  work  compared  with  that  in  a  factory.  But 
according  to  the  workers  themselves  it  is  far  more  exhausting 
than  seems  to  be  the  case.  The  girl  behind  the  counter  is  sub- 
jected to  peculiar  strain ;  she  must  always  be  neat  in  appearance 
and  on  her  best  behavior;  she  is  always  on  duty  and  has  to  pre- 
serve an  even  temper  in  meeting  the  tastes  and  whims  of  cus- 
tomers of  all  kinds. 

Long  hours  of  standing,  close  attention  to  customers,  and  poor 
ventilation  are  characteristic  of  the  occupation  for  the  main  body 
of  employees,  the  saleswomen.  Constant  standing  is  the  greatest 
hardship.  A  saleswoman  has  to  be  on  her  feet  practically  the 
whole  day.  She  is  able  to  sit  down  for  only  a  few  moments  at 
infrequent  intervals.  In  the  busiest  hours  of  the  day,  in  the 
rush  season  preceding  Christmas,  and  whenever  special  sales 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

are  held,  there  is  almost  no  opportunity  to  rest.  In  fact,  the 
testimony  of  many  girls  proves  that  on  some  days  they  are  unable 
to  sit  down  at  all. 

When  a  girl  works  behind  a  counter,  she  can  occasionally  lean 
against  the  stock  case  for  rest.  But  the  girl  who  stands  at  an 
aisle  counter  or  at  a  table,  must  endure  the  continued  strain  prac- 
tically unrelieved  all  day.  Almost  without  exception  they  com- 
plain of  the  extreme  discomfort  and  fatigue  that  results  from 
continuous  standing.  Swollen  and  aching  feet  and  broken  arches 
result.  The  pain  at  times  is  acute  and  reaches  up  to  the  thighs. 

Evidence  published  in  the  brief  in  defense  of  the  Illinois  10 
hour  law  (in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  Illinois:  People 
vs.  Elerding,  Feb.,  1912)  regulating  the  employment  of  women 
in  department  stores  quotes  physicians  whose  practice  brought 
them  in  contact  with  girls  and  women  employed  as  saleswomen. 
They  are  unanimous  in  the  opinion  that  long  hours  of  standing 
are  unquestionably  injurious  to  the  female  organs  and  reproduc- 
tive system.  Moreover  the  effect  on  young  and  physically  unde- 
veloped girls  is  even  more  serious  than  on  older  women,  for 
injuries  to  these  organs  during  girlhood  may  affect  a  woman 
for  the  rest  of  her  life. 

The  consensus  of  opinion  seems  to  be  that  "  It  has  a  very 
grave  effect  upon  the  generative  organs  of  women,  entailing  a 
great  deal  of  suffering  and  also  injuring  a  very  large  body  of 
them  permanently.  *  *  *  It  is  the  prolonged  hours  and  not 
being  allowed  to  sit  down."  (Appendix  to  brief,  p.  27). 

The  question  naturally  arises  whether  the  mercantile  law  does 
not  provide  a  remedy  in  that  it  requires  one  seat  for  every  three 
women  employed.  The  law  is  usually  obeyed  and  seats  or  stools 
are  provided  in  the  correct  proportion.  But  in  practice  the  law 
is  almost  useless.  The  use  of  the  seats  is  for  the  most  part  for- 
bidden either  by  unwritten  law  or  by  explicit  directions  from 
floorwalkers  or  managers.  Even  if  the  use  of  seats  is  permitted 
in  the  rush  seasons  the  girls  have  literally  no  time  to  sit  down. 
Then,  too,  a  girl  who  is  placed  at  an  aisle  counter  or  at  a  table 
may  have  no  seat  accessible,  her  third  of  a  seat  may  be  behind  a 
neighboring  counter;  or  again,  if  an  a'isle  manager  sees  that  a 
girl  has  leisure  to  sit  down,  he  will  move  her  to  another  busier 
counter  in  order  to  make  better  use  of  her  time. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  269 

There  is,  of  course,  no  doubt  that  the  employer  must  be  free 
to  use  his  employees  where  they  are  needed.  The  points  at  issue 
are  whether  it  is  not  for  the  best  interest  of  both  alike  to  avoid 
the  over-fatigue  and  consequent  inefficiency  that  comes  to  an  em- 
ployee from  standing  too  long ;  and  whether  "  reliefs  "  at  cer- 
tain definite  hours,  for  each  individual  are  not  as  essential  to 
the  welfare  of  saleswomen  as,  for  instance,  of  telephone  opera- 
tors. In  most  stores  girls  can  obtain  permission  from  the  aisle 
manager  to  leave  their  counters  for  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  in 
the  morning  and  in  the  afternoon.  But  during  rush  seasons 
permission  is  often  given  grudgingly  or  not  at  all,  and  it  is 
understood  that  a  girl  must  go  back  to  her  counter  at  the  first 
possible  moment.  In  no  store  was  any  system  of  "  reliefs " 
described  to  our  investigators  which  was  invariably  followed. 

Aside  from  the  physical  injuries  due  to  constant  standing, 
saleswomen  are  subjected  to  unquestionable  nervous  strain.  The 
rush  and  speeding  of  factory  work  has  often  been  described,  but 
little  notice  has  been  given  to  the  tax  upon  the  attention  and 
watchfulness  of  the  saleswomen.  They  are  compelled  to  work 
with  rapidity  and  accuracy.  When  there  is  a  string  of  impatient 
customers,  they  sometimes  wait  on  three  persons  at  the  same  time. 

The  saleswoman  is  required  not  only  to  handle  goods,  but 
also  to  do  accurate  clerical  work  at  each  purchase  and  to  handle 
money  whenever  cash  sales  are  made.  In  case  of  error,  no  mat- 
ter what  the  rush  of  work,  the  loss  is  usually  deducted  from  her 
earnings.  She  must  be  constantly  alert  to  avoid  such  "  dockings." 

Another  hardship  is  the  bad  air  in  most  department  stores 
due  to  defective  ventilation.  Complaints  are  frequent  even  from 
the  shopping  public,  who  remain  within  the  store  only  a  few 
hours  at  most.  The  proper  ventilation  of  rooms  holding  such 
masses  of  people,  often  thousands  at  a  time,  is  admittedly  a 
complex  engineering  problem,  comparable  in  difficulty  only  to 
the  ventilation  of  schools  and  theatres. 

The  vitiated  air  has  a  depressing  effect  upon  the  employees. 
Especially  in  basements  the  failure  to  provide  enough  fresh  air 
is  unmistakable  even  without  scientific  tests  of  the  quality  of 
the  air.  Though  fresh  air  is  pumped  into  some  basements  from 
shafts  reaching  to  the  roof,  it  is  often  not  distributed  evenly 
throughout  the  basement,  and  certain  parts  of  the  room  may  be 


270  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

entirely  unaffected.  Again  basements  are  ventilated  by  openings 
at  the  street  level  and  the  dust  and  dirt  from  the  thoroughfare 
sift  down  into  the  store.  The  goods  which  are  sold  in  the  base- 
ment are  usually  of  such  a  kind,  (kitchenware,  china,  hardware, 
etc.)  that  they  are  not  injured  by  the  dust.  But  it  is  injurious 
to  human  beings  who  in  addition  are  obliged  to  spend  their  day- 
light hours  wholly  in  artificially  illuminated  basements.  In  our 
inquiry  we  found  that  5,409  persons  were  working  in  basements, 
543  persons  in  sub-basements.  Incidently  it  may  be  remarked 
that  although  these  premises  are  by  courtesy  called  basements, 
they  are  entirely  below  street  level  and  therefore  really  cellars. 

HOUKS  OF  WORK 

All  the  hardships  of  the  conditions  of  work  are  intensified 
by  long  hours  of  toil.  The  injury  caused  by  standing,  for  in- 
stance, is  more  than  proportionately  increased  by  overtime  work 
that  is  frequently  prolonged  beyond  the  normal  working  day 
by  2  to  4  extra  hours. 

In  the  discussion  of  hours  which  follows,  no  extreme  or  exag- 
gerated instances  are  quoted.  No  isolated  cases  of  overtime  have 
been  selected  for  special  mention.  The  data  on  hours  refer 
either  to  the  whole  store  or  to  certain  specified  departments  of 
the  store.  By  omitting  inspections  of  small  neighborhood  stores, 
we  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  most  extreme  overtime  has 
not  been  detected.  For  it  is  in  the  stores  where  only  a  few 
women  are  employed  that  the  demands  on  their  time  are  greatest. 
On  the  other  hand,  overtime  in  large  stores  brings  strain  to  a 
far  larger  number  of  persons.  Employment  in  the  huge  depart- 
ment stores  is  in  itself  more  taxing  on  account  of  the  contact 
with  multitudes  of  people. 

Of  the  216  establishments  investigated,  only  35  closed  through- 
out the  year  at  6  p.  M.  or  shortly  thereafter.  These  ,  included 
most  of  the  large  department  stores  in  New  York  City.  The 
usual  hours  of  labor  that  prevail,  except  for  special  rush  seasons, 
are  not  excessive.  Of  the  27,212  women  employees,  approxi- 
mately one-half  worked  less  than  54  hours  and  one-half  less  than 
57  hours.  However,  it  will  later  be  shown  that  at  certain  sea- 
sons of  the  year  the  hours  of  all  these  workers  are  much  length- 
ened by  overtime. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  271 

Number  of  .women  working  in  216  stores  according  to  weekly 

hours  of  work. 

Stores  close  at  6  P.  M. 

Number  Stores         50-54  hrs.          54-57  hrs.          57-60  hrs.  Over  60  hrs.             Total 

35                          13,802                 13,410  27,212 

Stores  close  after  6  P.  M. 

181                             2,750                   3,577                   4,732  114                       11,173 

216  38,385 


Of  the  181  stores, which  were  regularly  kept  open  after  6  P.  M., 
100  were  open  only  one  night  a  week,  usually  on  Saturday;  54 
were  open  2  nights  a  week  and  27  were  open, to  the  public  3  to 
6  nights  a  week.  Moreover,  women  employed  in  such  night 
work  were  not  dismissed  until  at, least  9  P.  M.  and  in  a  majority 
of  establishments  not  until  10  or  11  p.  M.  on  Saturdays.  These 
late  closing  hours  are  usual  in  the  five  ( and  ten  cent  stores,  and 
prevail  ,also  in  the  regular  department  stores  outside  of  Xew 
York  City.  In  fact,  of  the  stores  investigated  there  are  only 
two  outside  Xew  York  City  that  habitually  close  at  6  P.  M. 

Number  of  women  working  in  181  stores  which  are  open  after 
6  p.  m.  on  Saturday  nights. 

Closing  Weekly  Hours  of  Work.  Total  No. 

Hours.  50  to  54  hrs.  54  to  57  hrs.  57  to  60  hrs.  Over  60  hrs.  Women. 

9  to  10  P.  M 1,877  826  23                 2,726 

10  to  11  P.   M 873  2,724  4,632  89  8,318 

After  11  P.  M 27  77  25  129 


2,750  3,577  4,732  114  11,173 


A  glance  at  the  table  above  reveals  the  large  proportion  of 
women  who  work  until  a  very  late  hour  on  one  night  a  week, 
generally  Saturday. 

Ten  hours  a  day  or  60  hours  a  week  are  the  legal  hours  for 
women  under  21  years  employed  in  stores.  The  law,  however, 
is  inoperative  for  six  days  preceding  Christmas,  and  in  conse- 
quence at  that  time  many  stores  keep  their  doors  open  long  past 
the  usual  closing  hour.  To  meet  the  great  demands  of  the  Christ- 
mas trade,  the  merchants  greatly  increase  their  labor  supply,  but 
only  in  a  comparatively  few  instances  do  they  institute  regular 
shifts  of  employees,  who  replace  each  other  at  stated  hours. 

In  the  course  of  this  inquiry  the  amount  of  overtime  required 
at  Christmas  could  be  ascertained  in  New  York  City  stores  alone. 


272  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

In  sixty-six  large  department  stores  the  employees  worked  the 
following  hours  during  the  6  days  preceding  Christmas  (Dec.  18 
to  24,  excluding  Sunday). 

In  16  stores  there  was  no  overtime  (f.  e.,  store  closed  at  6    P.    M.),    or    a    double 

was  employed. 

In  3  stores  the  hours  were  from  60-65. 
In  5  stores  the  hours  were  from  65-70. 
In  4  stores  the  hours  were  from  70-75. 
In  20  stores  the  hours  were  from  75-80. 
In  18  stores  the  hours  were  from  80-85. 


66 

These  are  actual  working  hours  as  the  time  off  for  luncheon 
and  supper  has  been  deducted.  In  addition  to  these  excessive 
hours  during  the  week,  girls  in  certain  departments  worked  also 
on  Sunday,  December  22nd,  varying  from  5  to  8  hours. 

In  28  five  and  ten  cent  stores  the  hours  (from  Dec.  18  to  24) 
were  as  follows: 

In    3  stores  there  was  no  overtime. 
"     1  store  the  hours  were  from  65-70 
"  12  stores  "      "          "      "      75-80 
"  12       "      "      "          "      "      85-90 


28 


These  are,  in  brief,  our  findings  on  the  hours  of  work  during 
the  exempted  period  (Dec.  18  to  24).  What  this  rush  work  means 
to  the  girl  behind  the  counter,  who  may  have  to  stand  for  80  to 
90  hours  a  week,  is  revealed  in  the  words  of  one  of  the  employees 
of  a  large  department  store : 

"  You  feel  terribly  driven,  all  day.  The  girls  pull  out 
all  the  stock  in  the  hurry  and  then  you  can't  find  the 
things  that  are  asked  for.  The  standing  is  the  worst,  the 
pain  stretches  up  into  the  calves  of  the  legs.  I  had  to  stand 
in  line  15  minutes  one  day  in  the  crowd  trying  to  get  lunch. 
You  ache  all  over  by  6  o'clock.  I  was  not  relieved  at  night 
for  supper  till  nearly  8  P.  M.,  after  demonstrating  dolls  all 
day.  I  was  so  exhausted  that  I  finally  broke  down  and 

cried." 

******* 

The  work  after  supper  takes  it  out  of  you  worst  of  all.  I 
got  so  tired  and  worried  that  I  slept  badly  and  dreamt  a 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  273 

great  deal  about  the  store.     In  the  morning  when  I  woke  up 

I  felt  as  tired  as  the  night  before.     Many  girls  had  to  go  far 
uptown,  and  some  to  Astoria,  and  didn't  get  home  till  after 

II  p.  M.    1  didn't  see  how  they  could  get  back  to  the  store  on 
time  the  next  morning.     But  they  had  a  sense  of  honor  and 
wouldn't  throw  all  the  work  on  the  other  girls." 

It  is  generally  understood  that  the  saleswomen  must  be  on  time 
for  beginning  work  every  morning,  however  late  they  may  have 
been  dismissed  the  night  before.  Otherwise  the  work  of  the  store 
would  be  entirely  disorganized.  At  this  time  fines  for  a  few 
moments'  lateness  are  more  often  remitted  if  the  girls  have  been 
required  to  work  late  for  successive  nights. 

An  employee  of  another  store  described  the  condition  as  follows : 

"  In  the  toy  department  6  girls  out  of  12  at  the  counter 
were  forced  to  take  a  day  off  during  the  week  of  December 
16th  to  21st  on  account  of  extreme  fatigue.  Four  others 
were  so  tired  and  sick  that  they  complained  constantly  and 
declared  they  would  have  to  be  absent  some  day  before  Christ- 
mas in  order  to  stand  the  strain  of  the  work.  Two  only 
were  not  tired  to  death.  The  girls,  of  course,  lose  pay  when 
they  are  absent  but  everyone  of  them  said  they  '  just  couldn't 
stand  it '  without  taking  a  day  off,  although  none  of  them 
could  afford  this  rest.  Moreover  when  girls  are  absent,  the 
burden  of  their  work  falls  on  the  remaining  salesgirls.  Thus 
one  day  with  3  girls  away  there  was  such  a  constant  rush  that 
one  girl  said,  '  I  didn't  have  a  chance  to  sit  down  from  9:15 
till  6 :45  except  at  lunch,  and  I  didn't  see  any  other  girl  at 
the  counter  sitting  down  either.' ' 

There  is  scarcely  a  salesgirl  who  does  not  complain  of  the 
extreme  lassitude  and  lessened  power  of  work  experienced  as  a 
result  of  this  exhausting  toil.  From  Thanksgiving  to  Christmas 
the  pressure  of  work  is  cumulative.  From  day  to  day  the  crush 
in  the  store  increases,  and  the  demands  upon  a  girl's  time  and 
attention  grow  more  insistent  and  unremitting.  The  air  of  the 
store  is  vitiated.  There  is  rarely  a  moment  to  sit  down  and  relax. 
At  lunch  time  comes  the  only  break,  and  in  the  over-crowded  con- 
dition of  most  stores,  a  girl  may  have  to  stand  in  line  10  minutes 
out  of  45  before  she  can  get  her  luncheon,  though  her  feet  may  be 
aching  cruelly  from  long  hours  of  standing.  She  may  thus  lose 
part  of  her  short  noon  period  for  recuperation.  Moreover,  she 
18 


274  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

must  return  to  her  counter  strictly  on  time  under  pain  of  fine  for 
lateness,  no  matter  what  the  delay  in  the  lunch  room. 

At  6  P.  M.  nervous  endurance  has  ebbed  and  the  tension  of 
added  evening  work  strains  the  physical  and  nervous  powers 
almost  to  the  breaking  point.  Girls  ordinarily  in  good  health  com- 
plain that  after  the  late  return  home  their  sleep  is  broken  and 
unrefreshing.  If  a  girl  lives  at  any  distance  from  the  store  her 
night  rest  is  cut  down,  since  she  may  reach  home  after  11  p.  M. 
and  yet  have  to  return  to  her  post  at  8  or  8 :30  the  following  day. 
Finally,  when  the  rush  is  over,  Christmas  Day  is  often  spent  in 
bed,  and  for  weeks  thereafter  the  ill-effects  to  health  are  still  felt. 
According  to  the  testimony  of  physicians  subsequent  slack  time 
can  not  repair  the  inroads  upon  health  due  to  such  extreme  over- 
fatigue. 

It  should  not  be  thought  that  overtime  work  is  limited  to  De- 
cember only.  Though  it  is  most  excessive  in  that  month,  there  are 
many  occasions,  such  as  special  sales,  stock  taking  and  rearrange- 
ment of  departments,  as  well  as  auditing  and  bookkeeping,  which 
keep  the  employees  for  many  extra  hours.  At  Christmas  the  over- 
time is  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  stock  and  replacing  it  for  the 
demands  of  the  next  day,  since  the  counters  have  to  be  constantly 
replenished.  Such  preparations  are  necessary  in  many  depart- 
ments of  a  large  store,  especially  at  the  handkerchief,  toy,  candy, 
silverware  and  book  counters  where  the  goods  are  most  quickly 
sold. 

In  discussing  overtime,  it  is  not  sufficient  to  deal  with  the  length 
of  hours  during  which  the  stores  are  open  for  customers.  The 
practice  is  well  nigh  universal  of  keeping  employees  after  the 
day's  work  or  on  Sundays  to  work  behind  closed  doors.  This  work 
is  irregular.  The  girls  may  be  called  upon  to  stay  any  night  with- 
out previous  notice.  Sometimes  they  are  not  notified  until  late  in 
the  afternoon  that  they  are  expected  to  work  that  night.  The 
irregularity  and  failure  to  receive  advance  notice  are  distinct 
grievances.  Some  of  the  testimony  given  before  the  Commission 
by  department  store  employees  bears  directly  on  this  point : 

"  Q.  When  you  have  to  work  ovei  time  do  they  give  you 
any  notice  in  advance,  or  do  they  notify  you  at  any  time 
during  the  day  ?  A.  On  Saturday  we  did  not  know  until 
half  past  five  that  we  were  going  to  stay. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  275 

A.  The  boss  would  tell  you  you  should  not  make  any  plans 
about  going  out  and  that  you  should  tell  the  people  at  home 
that  if  you  are  not  at  home  at  a  certain  hour  not  to  expect 
you." 

Mercantile  establishments  are  not,  like  factories,  required  by  law 
to  post  their  employees'  hours  of  work.  Hence  it  was  exceedingly 
difficult  for  our  investigators  to  ascertain  the  exact  hours  of  work. 
In  some  establishments  it  is  true  that  automatic  time-clocks  are 
used  and  each  employee  registers  his  time  of  arriving  and  leaving. 
But  in  no  case  did  our  investigators  find  the  time  records  so  kept 
that  they  could  tell  at  a  glance  the  total  daily  or  weekly  hours  of 
work  for  any  department  of  the  establishment. 

A  limited  study  of  the  duration  of  hours  was  undertaken  for 
certain  classes  of  workers  in  two  large  stores.  It  revealed  two 
facts  of  importance,  first  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  this  informa- 
tion, owing  to  the  faihire  to  keep  adequate  records,  and  second, 
the  amount  of  overtime  required  in  a  few  selected  departments 
of  the  stores  during  November  and  December,  1912. 

In  the  first  store,  the  overtime  hours  could  only  be  obtained 
from  the  daily  overtime  sheet  which  is  made  up  and  sent  to  the 
office  every  afternoon.  It  gives  the  names  of  all  the  employees 
who  are  required  to  stay  overtime.  They  are  entitled  to  supper, 
which  the  firm  provides,  but  they  must  obtain  supper  passes  from 
the  timekeeper.  If  the  employees  prefer  to  finish  their  work  with- 
out stopping  for  supper,  their  names  are  not  put  on  the  daily  over- 
time sheet,  since  they  do  not  need  to  obtain  supper  passes.  There 
is  no  record  of  their  hours  except  that  the  watchman,  in  order  to 
prevent  unauthorized  persons  from  entering  the  store,  takes  down 
their  names  as  they  leave  the  building.  It  was  from  this  list  that 
the  hours  of  this  particular  set  of  supperless  workers  was  ascer- 
tained. These  girls  are  seldom  informed  as  to  the  hours  when 
they  are  to  be  dismissed.  They  understand  that  they  must  stay 
until  the  work  is  finished. 

There  were  197  women  who  worked  overtime  in  the  five  depart- 
ments whose  records  were  compiled.  During  the  period  from 
November  6th  to  December  26th  (42  working  days)  there  was 
overtime  on  32  evenings  and  on  6  Sundays.  On  no  two  days  and 
in  no  two  departments  were  the  hours  of  work  exactly  the  same. 
"Nor  were  the  same  women  always  employed.  As  a  rule,  the  per- 


276  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

manent  employees  rather  than  the  "  Christmas  specials  "  were  ex- 
pected to  remain. 

The  number  of  women  who  worked  and  their  hours  of  leaving 
on  these  32  evenings  are  shown  below : 

No. 

Date.  Workers. 

Nov.  6  11 

"79 

"  11  10 

"  12  14 

"  13  6 

"  16  10 

"  18  16 

"  19  5 

"  23  12 

"  25  24 

"  26  33 

"  27  7 

"  29  21 

Dec.  2  11 

"  3  29 

"  4  22 

"  5  26 

"  7  10 

"  9  11 

"  10  20 

"  11  30 

"  12  29 

"  13  14 

"  14  38 

"  16  28 

"  17  37 

"  18  50 

"  19  41 

"  20  37 

"  21  34 

"  23  38 

"  26  13 


No.  Leaving. 

8  P.  M. 

8-9  P.  M. 

9-10  P.  M. 

10-11  p. 

11 

9 

10 

14 

6 

10 

16 

5 

2 

10 

24 

28 

5 

7 

21 

11 

23 

6 

22 

1 

25 

2 

1 

7 

1 

10 

15 

5 

1 

12 

7 

10 

8 

15 

6 

12 

2 

9 

23 

6 

10 

4 

14 

4 

13 

17 

3 

23 

24 

3 

6 

14 

21 

11 

13 

13 

31 

3 

16 

4 

18 

13 

REPOKT  OF  COMMISSION.  277 

More  than  one-half  of  the  women  stayed  till  9  P.  M.  or  later. 

More  than  one-fourth  stayed  till  10  p.  M.  or  later.  A  small  pro- 
portion was  kept  till  11  p.  M.  or  later.  It  will  be  noticed  that  50 
women  constituted  the  maximum  number  employed  any  one  even- 
ing (Dec.  18). 

In  this  last  week  before  Christmas  88  women  were  kept  over- 
time. Their  individual  records  have  been  separately  compiled 
and  show  that  16  worked  3  evenings,  15  worked  4  evenings  and  10 
worked  5  evenings.  It  is  important  to  note  that  48  of  these  88 
women  were  at  their  tasks  successive  evenings,  for  example,  21: 
were  employed  2  consecutive  evenings,  11  worked  3  consecutive 
evenings,  3  remained  4  consecutive  evenings,  10  worked  5  evenings 
on  a  stretch. 

Sunday  work  is  given  for  each  of  the  six  Sundays,  viz. : 

Dates.  No.  Women. 

Nov.  17th 39 

Nov.  24th. 14 

Dec.      1st 7 

Dec.     8th 10 

Dec.  15th 54 

Dec.  22nd.,  37 


Although  54  was  the  maximum  number  employed  on  any  one 
Sunday,  77  different  women  took  turns  in  returning  to  the  store 
for  Sunday  labor.  Moreover,  some  of  the  77  worked  consecutive 
Sundays,  thus  24  worked  two  Sundays  or  14  days  without  break, 
3  were  employed  3  Sundays  or  21  days  without  break,  and  4 
women  worked  5  Sundays  or  35  days  on  a  stretch  without  a  day's 
rest.  Many  of  these  77  workers  added  evenings  of  toil  when  they 
were  late  in  returning  to  their  homes  and  their  rest  and  leisure 
were  seriously  curtailed. 

In  the  second  store  the  overtime  hours  were  obtained  from  the 
individual  time  cards  which  give  the  daily  hours  of  arriving  and 
leaving.  The  Christmas  rush  began  later  than  in  the  first  store. 
More  overtime  was  concentrated  into  a  shorter  time,  because  a 
larger  force  was  kept  at  work.  Overtime  did  not  begin  until 
December  2d.  During  the  weeks  until  December  27th,  twenty- 
two  working  days,  there  was  evening  work  on  twenty-one  days. 


278  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

In  the  five  departments  investigated  a  force  of  425  women  was 
employed,  compared  with  197  women  employed  in  five  depart- 
ments of  the  first  store. 

Moreover,  in  the  week  preceding  Christmas  (Dec.  16-21),  when 
the  rush  was  greatest,  273  women,  in  four  departments,  worked 
consecutive  evenings  as  follows: 

Week  of  December  16-21. 

15  women  working  2  consecutive  evenings. 
41      "  "        3  "  " 

28      "  "4  "  " 

4^      «  «        5  «  « 

128      "  "        6  "  " 

Such  continuous  night  work  is  acknowledged  to  be  a  great 
strain.  When  the  night's  rest  is  cut  down  for  six  nights  without 
break  there  is  no  opportunity  to  recover  from  the  accumulated 
fatigue. 

There  was,  however,  comparatively  little  Sunday  work  in  the 
second  store.  Only  one  department  kept  32  of  its  employees  busy 
on  two  Sundays  before  Christmas.  It  is  the  intensity  of  work 
from  Sunday  to  Sunday  that  is  especially  striking. 

The  51  packers,  constituting  12%  of  the  total  number  of  women 
who  worked  overtime,  remained  in  the  store  on  16  different  even- 
ings, or  every  evening  between  December  5th  and  23rd.  The 
latest  hour  of  leaving  for  these  employees  was  between  11  and  12 
at  night,  but  most  of  them  worked  until  10  p.  M.  Of  these  51 
women,  40  who  worked  on  fifteen  different  evenings,  between  De- 
cember 6th  and  23rd,  quit  their  work  between  9  and  10 ;  28 
women  who  worked  on  14  evenings  during  the  same  period  left 
the  store  between  10  and  11  P.  M.,  and  14  who  worked  on  5  nights 
between  December  llth  and  23rd,  left  after  11  P.  M. 

The  majority  of  the  packers  were  young  girls  under  21  years  of 
age.  They  stood  at  their  work  and  had  little  opportunity  to  sit 
down.  These  girls  were  not  required  to  report  when  the  store 
opened  in  the  morning,  as  there  was  no  urgent  call  for  their  ser- 
vice until  sales  had  accumulated  for  an  hour  or  more.  Except 
for  the  packers,  there  is  little  leeway  allowed  even  during  the 
Christmas  rush.  A  great  many  saleswomen  who  were  interviewed, 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  279 

stated  that  they  must  be  at  their  posts  on  time  ready  for  the  day's 
work,  whatever  the  hour  of  dismissal  the  night  before. 

In  this  preliminary  investigation  it  was  not  possible  to  obtain 
the  exact  hours  of  labor  of  all  employees  in  even  one  large  store. 
The  facts  just  recited  concern  622  girls  and  women  employed 
respectively  in  five  departments  of  two  large  stores.  We  have 
no  information  about  other  departments  in  the  same  stores  on 
account  of  the  clerical  work  necessary  to  compile  the  figures.  Xor 
could  we  have  secured  the  information  more  easily  from  any  other 
store. 

The  amount  of  overtime  is  striking,  but  equally  significant  in 
the  opinion  of  the  Commission  is  the  difficulty  in  obtaining  the 
facts.  In  the  absence  of  readily  accessible  records  the  mercantile 
inspector  faces  almost  insuperable  obstacles  in  enforcing  the  law 
regulating  hours  of  labor.  Far  simpler  in  comparison  is  the  task 
of  the  factory  inspector.  For  the  owner  of  a  factory  must  keep 
the  time  book  of  all  employment  outside  the  posted  hours  of  work 
and  enter  therein  the  weekly  hours  of  every  individual  worker. 
He  must  exhibit  the  time  book  to  the  factory  inspector.  In  other 
words,  his  records  must  show  at  a  glance  the  exact  working  hours 
of  every  employee. 

If  the  mercantile  law  also  required  the  employer  to  post  hours 
of  work  and  keep  a  time  book,  it  would  not  only  simplify  inspec- 
tion but  would  relieve  the  merchants  of  the  repeated  visits  of 
inspectors  who,  under  present  conditions,  are  obliged  to  return 
many  times  to  make  their  observations  and  obtain  the  facts. 

WAGES 

In  response  to  the  growing  public  interest  in  the  wages  paid  to 
working  women  and  to  concern  at  the  lowness  of  the  wage  scale  in 
many  industries  and  occupations,  the  Commission  includes  in  its 
report  of  retail  stores  the  result  of  an  initial  inquiry  into  wages. 

The  Commission's  investigation  of  women's  employment  in  can- 
neries, and  in  certain  textile  mills,  showed  the  hourly  or  piece 
work  rates  of  pay  for  women  and  children,  and  their  weekly  earn- 
ings. A  more  detailed  study  of  the  level  of  wages  paid  in  depart- 
ment stores  is  here  presented.  Girls  prefer  employment  in  the 
stores  because  the  social  standing  of  mercantile  employees  is  con- 


280  KEPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

sidered  higher  than  that  of  factory  girls.  They  have  been  willing 
to  accept  practically  any  pay  that  is  otfered,  knowing  that  there  is 
never  scarcity  of  labor  and  that  there  are  always  other  girls  eager 
to  replace  them. 

The  wage  tables  given  below  have  been  compiled  from  one  source 
only,  namely,  copies  of  store  payrolls  giving  the  actual  wages  paid 
to  employees,  for  the  flat  weekly  wage  obviously  does  not  represent 
the  real  compensation  which  a  girl  receives  for  her  labor.  The 
actual  amount  contained  in  her  pay  envelope  is  the  flat  rate  of 
pay  with  sundry  deductions  for  fines  or  absence  and  with  the 
addition  of  possible  commissions  and  bonuses.  The  wage  figures 
taken  from  payroll  entries  are  therefore  the  only  accurate  measure 
of  earnings. 

In  the  short  time  at  its  disposal  the  Commission  was  unable  to 
secure  payroll  data  covering  a  whole  year.  We  believe  that  the 
data  for  five  weeks  are  representative  of  average  earnings  of  the 
employees  since,  on  the  whole,  department  store  work  is  not  sea- 
sonal in  character  and  the  majority  of  the  employees  are  perma- 
nently engaged.  We  are  without  specific  information  and  can 
therefore  make  no  comment  concerning  enforced  holidays  and 
vacations  without  pay  imposed  during  the  summer.  The  "  spe- 
cials "  who  are  taken  on  for  special  sales,  the  half  timers,  and 
those  who  work  only  at  night  or  on  Saturdays  are  not  included 
in  our  inquiry,  because  time  did  not  suffice  to  study  these  wages 
in  relation  to  hours  and  permanency  of  employment.  Finally, 
no  one  under  16  years  of  age  is  included. 

Copies  were  made  of  payroll  entries  for  five  consecutive  weeks 
beginning  October  1st,  1912.  At  this  season  of  the  year  the  stores 
are  busy  and  their  labor  force  is  the  largest  that  is  permanently 
employed.  But  the  extra  help  for  the  Christmas  rush  has  not  yet 
been  taken  on.  By  studying  the  payrolls  at  this  season,  we  are 
dealing  with  the  regular  selling  force. 

The  wages  of  no  girl  were  copied  from  the  payroll  unless  she 
was  employed  for  the  entire  period  of  five  weeks,  nor  was  her 
record  taken  if  she  was  absent  for  more  than  three  consecutive 
days.  This  was  judged  a  reasonable  amount  of  absence.  It  is 
rather  less  than  the  government  allowance  of  30  days  sick  leave 
during  the  year  without  deduction  of  pay. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  281 

Of  the  3,768  women  whose  earnings  were  thus  ascertained  from 
the  payrolls,  the  majority  (73 %)  were  saleswomen.  They  were 
employed  in  76  stores  located  in  New  York,  Buffalo  and  Rochester 
and  in  five  cities  of  the  second  class :  Albany,  Troy,  Schenectady, 
Utica  and  Syracuse.  This  wage  study  is  representative  of  con- 
ditions in  all  the  first  class  cities  and  in  almost  all  the  second 
cities  of  the  state.  The  tables  afford  an  opportunity  to  compare 
wages  in  New  York  and  in  other  cities. 

The  average  earnings  have  been  compiled  separately  for  two 
classes  of  mercantile  establishments,  the  five  and  ten  cent  stores 
and  the  regular  department  stores.  They  have  also  been  kept 
separately  for  New  York  and  up-state  cities. 

FIVE  AND  TEN  CENT  STORES 

There  were  forty-nine  five  and  ten  cent  stores  that  opened  their 
payrolls  to  us.  They  employ  1,038  women  and  girls,  all  of  whom 
are  salesgirls. 

CUMULATIVE  NUMBER  AND  PERCENTAGE  OF  SALESWOMEN  EM- 
PLOYED IN  FIVE  AND  TEN  CENT  STORES  ACCORDING  TO 
EARNINGS  AND  ACCORDING  TO  CITIES 

AVERAGE  WEEKLY  EARNINGS  No  of 

$8  and  Sales- 

TTnder  $5.  TTnder  $6.  Under  $7.  Under  $8.  over.  women. 

Per  cent.  Per  cent.  Per  cent.  Per  cent.  Per  cent. 

New  York  City 28.8              61.9              81.6              89.5  10.5  772 

Buftaio   76.2              95.2            100.0            100.0           21 

Rochester 24.2              72.5              89                 95.6  4.4  91 

Second  Class  Cities...               70.8             89.6             96.1             98.6  1.4  154 


All  Cities 35.5  67.6  84.8  91.6  8.4  1,038 


The  employees  of  stores  of  this  character  are  usually  inexperi- 
enced, and  no  high  grade  of  skill  is  required  of  them.  It  should 
be  noted,  however,  that  the  wages  of  no  saleswoman  whatever  are 
omitted  from  this  table.  "Women  are  thus  included  who  are  sales- 
women and  who,  following  the  practice  of  these  stores,  also  per- 
form more  responsible  duties  such  as  assisting  the  managers.  Yet 
notwithstanding  this  inclusion  of  the  higher  paid  workers  in  the 
five  and  ten  cent  stores,  the  meagerness  of  the  wages  is  striking. 
67.6%  of  the  girls  and  women  receive  less  than  $6  a  week  and 
91.6%  receive  less  than  $8.  These  amazing  figures  speak  for 
themselves.  They  scarcely  need  comment.  It  is  clearly  impos- 


282  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

sible  for  any  woman  to  be  wholly  self-supporting  upon  such  a 
wage. 

DEPARTMENT  STORES 

Our  tables  of  earnings  compiled  from  regular  department  store 
payrolls  are  somewhat  less  complete  than  the  table  of  wages  in 
the  five  and  ten  cent  stores. 

Many  of  the  dry  goods  merchants  of  the  City  of  New  York 
refused  to  permit  us  to  examine  their  books  to  ascertain  the  wages 
paid  to  their  employees,  but  after  negotiations  they  submitted  to 
us  certain  tables  of  salaries  of  five  different  department  stores  in 
the  City  of  New  York  selected  by  them  which  showed  the  wages 
paid  to  about  4,000  employees.  These  tables  show  higher  average 
wages  than  those  found  by  our  own  investigators  in  stores  other 
than  the  five  referred  to.  We  have  no  means  of  verifying  these 
figures.  They  came  to  us  too  late  to  be  incorporated  in  the  report 
proper,  but  will  be  found  in  Appendix  IX. 

Wage  schedules  were  obtained  for  10%  of  the  total  number  of 
saleswomen  employed  in  the  department  stores.  A  number  of 
merchants,  whose  wages  are  probably  among  the  highest  of  any 
paid  by  New  York  mercantile  establishments,  responded  to  our 
request  for  payrolls  and  at  the  other  end  of  the  scale,  a  number 
of  firms  who  sell  a  cheaper  grade  of  goods  and  pay  lower  wages 
also  allowed  us  to  copy  their  records.  However,  the  data  were  not 
secured  from  the  largest  New  York  City  establishments.  For 
this  reason  these  wage  schedules  may  not  be  entirely  representa- 
tive of  earnings  throughout  the  department  stores  of  the  city. 
For  the  largest  stores  are  not  represented  where  older  and  more 
experienced  saleswomen  have  to  a  great  extent  been  replaced  by 
more  youthful  and  less  skilled  workers. 

CUMULATIVE  NUMBER  AND  PERCENTAGE  OF  SALESWOMEN*  EM- 
PLOYED IN  REGULAR  DEPARTMENT  STORES  ACCORDING  TO 
EARNINGS  AND  ACCORDING  TO  CITIES 


lity  

AVJUKAUa 

Under  $5. 
Per  cent. 
15.4 

<;  WK±I;K.J 

Under  $6. 
Per  cent. 
28.1 

j*    JUAKIN 

Under  $7. 
Per  cent. 
44.1 

1INU-S. 

Under  $8. 
Per  cent. 
54.5 

$8  and 
over. 
Per  cent. 
45.5 

No.  of 
Sales- 
women. 

877 

26.7 

53.4 

69.1 

80.1 

19.9 

236 

9.2 

21.7 

38.4 

50.0 

50.0 

120 

Cities.. 

23.1 

38.2 

54.4 

64.7 

35.3 

1,497 

New  York   City 
Buffalo  .  , 
Rochester 
Second   Cl 

All  Cities   ..  20.3  35.4  51.1  61.9  38.1  2,730 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  283 

Twenty  per  cent,  of  all  the  saleswomen  reported  in  all  the  cities 
earned  less  than  $5  per  week.  One-half  of  all  the  saleswomen 
(51.1%)  earned  less  than  $7,  and  61.9%  earned  less  than  $8  a 
week. 

In  New  York  City,  where  living  expenses  are  highest,  the  pro- 
portion of  those  earning  less  than  $7  was  44%.  These  wages, 
though  higher  than  those  paid  in  five  and  ten  cent  stores,  are  also 
clearly  beneath  the  level  of  subsistence.  Yet,  in  some  way,  the 
difference  must  be  met  between  the  earnings  of  the  women  and 
their  expenses  of  living.  For  women  who  are  wholly  dependent 
on  their  own  earnings  the  difference  is  made  up  in  one  of  three 
ways.  They  may  live  in  subsidized  boarding  houses  or  homes  for 
working  girls,  where  charity  pays  a  part  of  their  maintenance. 
Secondly  they  may  live  with  such  excessive  economy  and  upon 
such  short  rations  that  health  is  shattered  and  future  earning 
capacity  is  permanently  undermined.  Thus  the  worker  herself 
is  made  to  pay  unfairly  in  strength  and  vitality,  instead  of  receiv- 
ing a  living  wage  from  the  industry  that  employs  her.  Lastly, 
in  some  cases,  the  impossibility  of  living  upon  the  pittance  which 
they  are  paid  undoubtedly  leads  some  women  to  supplement  these 
earnings  by  leading  an  immoral  life.  In  this  connection,  as  the 
Massachusetts  Commission  on  Minimum  Wage  Board  says 
significantly :  * 

"  It  is  remarkable  that  more  saleswomen  do  not  turn  to 
vice.  It  is  impossible  to  say  how  many  do.  No  estimate 
whatever  can  be  made  of  the  extent  to  which  the  workers  are 
subsidized  because  of  illicit  relations  with  one  or  two  men. 
Only  a  few  of  the  women  had  the  appearance  of  prostitutes. 
Women  who  were  making  a  brave  fight  against  tremendous 
odds  were  many  times  more  often  in  evidence." 

The  Massachusetts  Report  together  with  the  reports  of  the  Fed- 
eral Government  on  women  in  stores  (Report  on  Woman  and 
Child  Wage  Earners)  disposes  of  the  long-lived  fallacy  that  the 
department  store  employees  are  working  for  pin  money,  and  hence 
wages  may  safely  be  very  low  because  they  are  not  needed  for 
actual  self-support.  Many  store  managers  acknowledge  that  they 
prefer  to  engage  girls  who  are  living  at  home.  The  supposition 
is  that  they  are  not  entirely  dependent  on  their  earnings. 

*  Report  of   Mass.    Commission  on   Minimum   Wage   Boards,   1912,    page  90. 


284  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

Both  of  these  official  reports,  after  intensive  study,  prove  that 
even  when  a  girl  lives  at  home,  her  pay  is  in  an  overwhelming 
majority  of  cases  not  pin  money  for  herself,  but  an  indispensable 
part  of  the  family  income.  Either  the  chief  bread-winner  is  ill 
or  disabled  or  is  unable  to  support  his  wife  and  children  by  his 
own  earnings.  In  many  cases  women  employed  in  department 
stores  are  themselves  the  chief  or  sole  wage-earners  of  the  family. 
According  to  the  Massachusetts  Report,  "  throughout  the  cities  of 
the  state  about  one-quarter  of  the  women  workers  in  stores  are 
dependent  on  their  own  resources." 

And  in  Boston,  for  example,  of  the  2,276  women  and  girls  em- 
ployed in  retail  stores,  only  3.3%  were  working  for  pin  money. 
All  the  rest  gave  their  pay  envelopes  to  their  families  as  a  neces- 
sary part  of  the  family  income,  or  were  themselves  entirely  de- 
pendent on  their  earnings.  The  United  States  Government 
Report  gives  approximately  the  same  figures,  namely,  3.7%  pin 
money  workers. 

We  have  thus  far  considered  the  wages  of  saleswomen  only,  who 
constitute  the  best  paid  group  within  the  stores.  The  earnings 
of  other  workers  were  also  ascertained.  In  the  large  establish- 
ments where  the  work  is  most  subdivided  there  are,  besides  sales- 
women, two  main  groups — the  office  force  and  the  younger  work- 
ers, the  stock  girls.  Of  the  76  stores  whose  payrolls  were  copied, 
69  employed  women  in  their  offices  and  only  22  employed  stock 
girls. 

The  average  weekly  earnings  of  the  office  help  are  given  below : 

CUMULATIVE  NUMBER  AND  PERCENTAGE  OF  OFFICE  HELP 
EMPLOYED  IN  DEPARTMENT  STORES  AND  FIVE  AND  TEN 
CENT  STORES  ACCORDING  TO  EARNINGS  AND  ACCORDING  TO 

CITIES.                AVERAGE   WEEKLY  EARNINGS.  No  of 

$8  and  office  em- 

Under  $5.  Under  $6.  Under  $7.  Under  $8.  over,  ployees. 

Per  cent.  Per  cent.  Per  cent.  Per  cent.  Per  cent. 

New  York  City 14.1              30.2              51.6              6?.l  30.9  149 

Buffalo 33.3               50.0               53.3               63.3  36.7  30 

Rochester 18.                 38.4              56.4              64.1  35.9 

Second   Class    Cities...              21.1              35.5              52.2              63.0  37.0  360 


All  Cities   19.9  35.1  52.4  64.7  35.3  578 


It  is  apparent  that  the  range  of  wages  of  the  578  office  workers 
included  in  this  table  corresponds  closely  to  the  wage  scale  of  the 
saleswomen  in  the  same  stores. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  285 

But  the  younger  workers  who  are  employed  as  stock  girls  are 
paid  markedly  lower  wages.  The  average  weekly  earnings  of  326 
are  as  follows: 

CUMULATIVE  NUMBER  AND  PERCENTAGE  OF  STOCKGIRLS  EM- 
PLOYED IN  DEPARTMENT  STOKES  ACCORDING  TO  EARNINGS 
AND  ACCORDING  TO  CITIES 

AVERAGE  WEEKLY  EARNINGS. 

No.  of 

$8  and  stock- 
Under  $5.  Under  56.  Under  $7.  Under  $8.         over.  girls. 
Per  cent.  Per  cent.  Per  cent.  Per  cent.  Per  cent. 

New  York  City 96.3  96.3  98.1  98.1  1.9  54 

Buffalo 85.7  92.8  100.0  100.0  14 

Rochester 80.0  80.0  90.0  95.0  5.0  20 

Second  Class  Cities....  94.1  97.9  99.5  100.0          238 


All  Cities  90.1  93.2  98.7  99.3  .7  326 


It  should  be  noted  again  that  although  these  girls  are  un- 
doubtedly young,  yet  all  who  are  included  here  are  over  16  years 
of  age.  They  are  usually  not  experienced  and  do  not  hold  highly 
responsible  positions,  but  their  wages  are  almost  incredibly  low ; 
96.5%  earned  less  than  $6.  In  the  absence  of  further  data  as  to 
the  age  and  rate  of  advancement  of  this  group  of  workers,  it  is 
impossible  to  judge  whether  we  are  here  considering  an  initial 
wage  which  will  increase  proportionately  with  the  efficiency  of 
the  workers  or  whether  this  is,  to  some  extent  at  least,  a  standard 
rate  of  pay  for  a  body  of  workers  whose  chances  of  advancement 
are  slight. 

SUMMARY 

This  initial  inquiry  into  wages  clearly  demonstrates  a  few 
points : 

1.  The  five  and  ten  cent  stores  pay  the  lowest  wages;  84.8% 
of  the  saleswomen  in  them  receive  less  than  $7. 

2.  The  other  retail  stores,  including  the  regular  department 
stores,  have  a  higher  level  of  wages;  51.1%  receive  $7  or  less  a 
week. 

3.  The  wages  paid  in  New  York  City  are  somewhat  higher  than 
in  other  cities. 

4.  The  wages  even  of  saleswomen  are  in  a  great  majority  of 
cases  not  sufficient  for  self-support. 


286  REPOKT  OF  COMMISSION. 

5.  The  inadequacy  of  the  earnings  and  the  consequent  low 
standard  of  living  must  inevitably  undermine  the  health  of  the 
workers. 

The  previous  discussion  brings  out  clearly  the  limits  of  this 
initial  inquiry.  More  intensive  study  is  needed,  following  the 
interesting  example  of  the  Massachusetts  Minimum  Wage  Com- 
mission. In  addition  to  the  compilation  of  actual  earnings,  the 
main  points  to  be  determined  in  a  study  of  wages  are  the  age  dis- 
tribution of  the  workers,  the  permanence  of  their  employment,  and 
the  advancement  accorded  to  experience  and  increased  efficiency. 
Without  such  supplementary  information  no  fair  judgment  can 
be  rendered  as  to  the  adequacy  of  the  wages  paid. 

Concerning  the  workers  themselves,  more  information  should 
be  sought  as  to  the  numbers  who  are  wholly  self-supporting,  or 
whose  wages  are  an  integral  part  of  the  family  budget.  It  is  not 
in  mercantile  establishments  only  that  these  facts  concerning  wages 
should  be  made  known.  It  is  equally  important  that  the  same 
study  should  be  made  of  many  industries  which  employ  large 
numbers  of  young  women  at  approximately  the  same  wage  level. 

Even  with  the  facts  at  our  disposal  now,  it  can  be  said  with 
assurance  that  no  business  can  be  carried  on  without  ultimate  in- 
jury to  society,  if  its  wage  scale  rests  on  the  assumption  that  its 
employees  are  subsidized  in  some  form  and  therefore  do  not  need 
to  be  paid  wages  sufficient  for  self-support. 

THE  MERCANTILE  LAW 

The  mercantile  establishments  have  always  been  favored  by  law 
above  the  factories  of  JsTew  York  State  in  the  number  of  hours 
they  may  employ  women  and  children. 

The  mercantile  law  dates  back  to  1897.  The  first  measure  was 
passed  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  lieinhard  Committee, 
which  was  appointed  by  the  legislature  "  to  investigate  the  con- 
ditions of  female  labor  in  the  city  of  New  York,"  and  which  held 
public  hearings  and  heard  testimony  from  employers  and 
employees  of  department  stores. 

The  original  law  is  substantially  in  effect  at  the  present  day. 
The  hours  of  work  prescribed  are  as  follows:  children  under  six- 
teen years  of  age  may  be  employed  not  more  than  nine  hours  a 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  287 

day  or  fifty-four  hours  a  week  and  girls  under  twenty-one  years 
not  more  than  sixty  hours  a  week. 

For  women  above  that  age  there  is  no  limitation  of  hours 
whatever.  During  the  week  proceeding  Christmas  (December 
18th  to  24th)  except  for  children,  all  restriction  of  hours  is  re- 
moved. There  have  been  no  important  changes  in  the  law  since 
1897,  except  that  the  working  day  for  children  has  been  reduced 
from  10  hours  to  9  hours  and  the  holiday  exemption  has  been 
shortened  from  ten  days  to  seven  days  before  Christmas. 

The  discrepancy  between  factory  and  mercantile  laws  in  this 
state  is  striking.  In  factories  children  may  work  only  eight  hours 
a  day  or  forty-eight  hours  a  week  and  women  may  be  employed 
only  fifty-four  hours  a  week.  There  is  a  further  discrepancy  in 
that  the  mercantile  law  omits  the  provision  that  work  for  women 
must  be  limited  to  six  days  a  week.  Consequently  the  employ- 
ment of  women  on  seven  days  in  mercantile  establishments  is 
legalized. 

ENFORCEMENT 

In  1897  the  enforcement  of  the  new  law  was  given  to  local 
boards  of  health  instead  of  being  entrusted  like  other  provisions 
of  the  labor  law  and  according  to  the  practice  of  other  states,  to 
the  labor  commissioner.  For  many  years  the  law  was  practi- 
cally a  dead  letter,  for  the  local  boards  of  health  made  no  adequate 
attempt  to  enforce  it.  In  many  towns  they  made  inspections 
only  on  complaint.  In  New  York  City,  a  corps  of  special  mer- 
cantile inspectors  of  the  Board  of  Health  was  maintained  for  only 
eight  months  and  thereafter  the  mercantile  establishments  were 
inspected,  for  the  most  part,  by  the  sanitary  inspectors  in  the 
course  of  other  duties.  They  were  not  trained  to  enforce  a  labor 
law,  and  in  consequence  their  work  was  entirely  unsatisfactory. 
The  public  justly  felt  that  the  women  and  children  in  stores  were 
not  securing  the  protection  which  the  law  intended,  and  the  de- 
mand grew  year  after  year  for  more  adequate  improvement. 

Finally  in  1908,  to  meet  this  public  demand,  the  legislature 
passed  a  law  transferring  to  the  labor  commissioner  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  mercantile  law  in  cities  of  the  first  class.  Thereupon 
a  separate  bureau  of  mercantile  inspection  was  established  in 
charge  of  the  mercantile  inspector,  who  was  given  8  deputy  in- 


288  EEPOKT  OF  COMMISSION. 

specters.  The  number  was  later  increased  to  9.  During  the  four 
years  since  the  change  was  made,  even  with  a  force  so  clearly  inade- 
quate to  cover  the  three  largest  cities  of  the  state,  the  bureau 
has  secured  a  far  better  enforcement  of  the  law.  In  the  first 
three  years  of  its  existence,  the  following  violations  of  the  child 
labor  law  alone  were  found: 

No.  of  children  illegally 

employed.  Percent. 

1908-  9:  3,121  51.4 

1909-10:  2,371  49. 

1910-11:  1,575  41.1 

There  is  no  large  industrial  state  in  the  Union  which  dis- 
tinguishes so  sharply  as  New  York  between  the  protection  afforded 
by  law  to  women  and  children  in  mercantile  establishments  and 
that  afforded  to  women  and  children  in  factories. 

In  20  states  the  hours  of  labor  of  all  women  of  whatever  age 
employed  in  mercantile  establishments  are  limited  as  follows : 

Hours  in  Hours  in 

One  Day.  One  Week.  State. 

k     8  48  California. 

|     "  Colorado. 

'     "  "  Washington. 

J     9  54  Missouri. 

(     "  "  Utah. 

10  54  Michigan. 

10  .  55  Wisconsin. 

"  58  Connecticut, 

Massachusetts. 
Minnesota. 

10  GO  Kentucky. 

Louisiana. 
Maryland. 
"  Nebraska. 

ISTew  Jersey. 
Oregon. 

10  Illinois. 

Virginia 

(except  Saturday). 

12  60  Pennsylvania. 

"  "  South  Carolina. 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  289 

There  are  no  exceptions  to  these  regulations,  save  that  three 
states  allow  holiday  overtime,  respectively  6,  8,  and  20  days  pre- 
ceding Christmas. 

.Xew  York  State  is  thus  in  an  exceptional  position.  It,  alone, 
of  all  the  large  industrial  states  fails  to  protect  adult  women  em- 
ployed in  stores.  Owing  to  this  distinction  in  the  law  between 
the  women  under  and  over  21  years,  even  the  protection  which 
the  law  is  supposed  to  extend  to  the  younger  women  is  to  a  great 
extent  nullified.  For  it  is  practically  impossible  for  an  inspector 
to  determine  the  exact  age  of  the  women  employees.  No  docu- 
mentary proofs  of  age  can  be  demanded,  similar  to  those  required 
for  child  laborers.  Hence  the  present  law  does  not  adequately 
protect  even  the  young  girls  under  21  years  of  age. 

This  preliminary  investigation  has  not  revealed  to  the  Com- 
mission any  cogent  reason  why  this  distinction  as  to  age  and 
hours  of  work  should  be  made.  We  do  not  believe  that  the  con- 
ditions of  work  differ  so  radically  from  employment  in  factories  as 
to  justify  the  discrimination  in  the  laws  in  favor  of  mercantile 
employers.  In  fact,  there  have  been  revealed  excessive  hours  of 
work  which  would  seem  to  call  for  immediate  legislation.  But 
the  present  inquiry,  in  our  opinion,  has  not  been  wide  enough 
in  its  scope  to  justify  at  this  date  recommendations  for  funda- 
mental changes  in  the  mercantile  law. 

Thus  far  the  Commission  has  no  information  as  to  conditions 
of  employment  in  the  smaller  retail  stores,  such  as  the  neighbor- 
hood stores  and  the  many  specialty  stores.  It  has  made  no  in- 
vestigation of  wholesale  mercantile  houses  or  of  drug  and  candy 
stores,  restaurants,  etc.,  and  has  no  knowledge  whatsoever  as  to 
the  length  of  their  employees'  working  hours,  and  the  nature  of 
the  work  required. 

Moreover,  in  the  brief  time  following  the  investigation  the 
Commission  was  unable  to  formulate  tentative  bills  and  to  give 
an  opportunity  for  full  discussion  of  the  proposed  measures  at 
public  hearings.  We  have  followed  this  procedure  in  every  case 
before  drawing  up  any  final  recommendations  for  the  legislature. 
In  view  of  the  short 'time  at  our  disposal,  which  precluded  the 
proper  amount  of  publicity  and  discussion  of  such  important 
measures,  and  in  view  of  the  incompleteness  of  our  information, 

19 


290  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

we  propose  no  remedial  measures,  but  strongly  recommend  a  far 
more  extended  inquiry  into  conditions  of  employment  in  mer- 
cantile establishments.  We  believe  that  further  investigation  of 
these  establishments  is  greatly  needed.  Our  preliminary 'survey 
reveals  how  large  is  the  number  of  occupations  called  mercantile 
and  how  diverse  the  classes  of  workers  which  are  engaged  in 
them.  The  state  should  provide  for  as  comprehensive  a  study  of 
these  occupations  as  it  has  already  done  for  the  factories. 

MISCELLANEOUS 
ONE  DAY  REST  IN  SEVEN 

The '  attention  of  the  Commission  has  been  called  to  the  fact 
that  a  large  number  of  employees  in  factories  work  seven  days  a 
week  and  have  no  opportunity  for  physical  rest  and  relaxation. 
Such  continuous  labor  is 'injurious  to  the  health  and  morals  of 
workers.  We  have  not,  however,  had  sufficient  opportunity  to  go 
into  this  subject  so  fully  as  is  necessary  to  propose  legislation. 
We  recommend  careful  investigation  into  the  extent  of  seven-day 
labor  in  the  factories  of  this  state  and  consideration  of  measures 
for  securing  to  the  worker  one  day  of  rest  in  seven. 

CITY  PLAN  COMMISSION 

The  Commission  has  been  urged  to  recommend  a  plan  by  which 
manufacturing  shall  be  confined  to  certain  streets  within  the  city 
of  New  York.  It  is  asserted  that  unless  this  plan  be  adopted, 
property  values  on  Fifth  avenue  and  other  important  streets  will 
be  very  much  impaired.  The  Commission,  however,  does  not 
feel  at  this  time  that  it  can  make  any  recommendations  upon 
this  subject. 

CONCLUSION 


The  task  laid  upon  the  Commission  by  the  legislature  has  proved 
exceedingly  arduous.  For  the  inquiry  into  the  conditions  under 
which  manufacturing  is  carried  on  in  New  York  State  involved 
not  only  problems  of  building  construction,  sanitation,  ventilation, 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  291 

the  prevention  of  accident  and  disease,  and  the  work  of  women 
and  children,  but  out  of  these  investigations  grew  the  still  more 
difficult  problem  of  a  thorough  reorganization  of  the  Department 
of  Labor. 

These  complex  problems  have  been  earnestly  and  conscien- 
tiously considered  with  due  regard  to  the  interests  of  employee, 
employer,  and  consumer.  Although  the  Commission  is  well  aware 
that  a  complete  solution  has  not  been  found,  it  is  nevertheless  con- 
vinced that  if  the  remedial  measures  recommended  become  law 
and  are  intelligently  enforced  they  will  lighten  the  burden  of  the 
worker  and  prove  of  benefit  to  all  the  state. 

It  is  of  great  importance  to  state  clearly  that  the  bills  proposed 
by  the  Commission  have  been  presented  in  such  form  as  to  justify 
no  modification  before  enactment  into  law.  We  declare  distinctly 
that  we  have  asked  for  no  more  remedial  legislation  than  is 
imperatively  demanded  by  the  present  conditions  in  the  factories 
of  the  state. 

The  most  important  recommendation  that  the  Commission  pre- 
sents deals  with  the  reorganization  of  the  Department  of  Labor. 
Furthermore,  the  most  important  feature  of  this  reorganization 
is  the  proposed  creation  of  the  Industrial  Board.  To  this  board 
are  given  large  powers  for  regulating  industry,  powers  that  per- 
mit the  board,  with  due  discretion  and  reliance  both  on  personal 
knowledge  and  the  advice  of  its  experts,  to  make  particular  reg- 
ulations with  reference  to  the  special  industries  involved. 

Through  this  plan  of  reorganization  the  Department  of  Labor 
will  be  an  effective  instrument  to  safeguard  the  workers  of  the 
state.  It  will  be  not  only  an  enforcing  authority  but  through  its 
division  of  Industrial  Hygiene  it  will  be  also  an  investigating  body 
which  shall  study  specific  dangers  and  their  remedies.  Above 
all,  in  the  Industrial  Board  the  department  will  have  an  agency 
to  frame  standards  and  regulations  applicable  to  varying  con- 
ditions of  industry. 

The  Industrial  Board  will  take  under  consideration  the  inter- 
ests of  both  employer  and  employee.  There  should  be  no  conflict 
between  these  interests,  for  the  improved  conditions  of  labor  not 
only  conserve  the  health  of  the  workers  but  also  increase  their 
industrial  efficiency.  It  will  therefore  be  the  duty  of  the  Indus- 


292  REPORT  OF  COMMISSION. 

trial  Board  to  make  clear,  by  the  practical  application  of  its 
standards,  that  improved  conditions  of  labor  are  a  substantial 
benefit  to  business  interests.  In  this  way  the  board  will  enlist  the 
advice  and  help  of  employers. 

Our  investigation  showed  that  many  factories  and  industrial 
establishments  of  the  state  are  conducted  by  enlightened  men  who 
feel  deeply  the  needs  of  their  employees  and  realize,  further,  that 
increased  efficiency  and  enlarged  profits  will  result  from  proper 
attention  paid  to  the  safeguards  which  we  recommend. 

As  for  the  less-enlightened  employers,  the  Industrial  Board  will 
act  as  an  educational  agency  in  the  sense  that  it  will  bring  into 
general  practice  the  best  methods  of  production  now  in  use  in 
establishments  of  the  highest  scientific  efficiency. 

Thus  the  creation  of  the  Industrial  Board  within  the  Depart- 
ment of  Labor  will  harmonize  the  interests  of  both  worker  and 
employer.  Through  the  exercise  of  its  functions,  the  labor  de- 
partment will  no  longer  be  regarded  merely  as  a  bureau  invested 
with  police  power  and  as  a  hostile  critic,  but  also  as  a  source  of 
constructive  advice.  The  achievement  of  this  high  ideal  calls  for 
the  appointment  to  office  in  the  labor  department  of  men  and 
women  of  training  and  high  character  imbued  with  the  new  spirit. 

The  greater  part  of  the  legislation  recommended  by  the  Com- 
mission must  take  the  form  of  amendments  to  the  labor  law. 
That  statute,  since  its  enactment  in  1897,  has  been  subjected  to 
numerous  amendments,  and  has  grown  to  be  unwieldy  and  com- 
plicated. It  is  in  need  of  revision  that  will  simplify  its  form 
and  arrangement  and  clarify  its  meaning.  The  Commission 
recommends  that  the  labor  law  be  properly  re-codified. 

The  question  of  the  minimum  wage  for  women  has  been  much 
discussed.  An  impartial  investigation  of  all  the  facts  is  ur- 
gently needed. 

The  tendency  of  the  age  is  toward  specialization.  A  further 
tendency  is  that  of  concentration.  Both  these  tendencies  are 
followed  in  the  proposed  reorganization  of  the  labor  department 
which  will  concentrate  the  specialists  in  one  group,  using  each 
with  a  view  to  his  special  knowledge  and  capacity.  Then  there 
will  be  fought  out  a  hopeful  and  effective  war  against  ignorance, 
poverty,  disease,  and  death,  for  the  conservation  of  the  nation's 


REPORT  OF  COMMISSION.  293 

wealth,  for  the  education  of  the  people,  for  the  uplifting  of 
humanity.  "And  the  question  of  conservation  is  a  great  deal 
bigger  than  the  question  of  saving  our  forests  and  our  mineral 
resources  and  our  waters;  it  is  as  big  as  the  life  and  happiness 
and  strength  and  elasticity  and  hope  of  our  people."* 

ROBERT  F.  WAGNER, 

Chairman. 

ALFRED  E.  SMITH, 

Vice-Chairman. 

CHARLES  M.  HAMILTON, 
EDWARD  D.  JACKSON, 
CYRUS  W.  PHILLIPS, 
SIMON  BRENTANO, 
ROBERT  E.  DOWLING, 
MARY  E.  DREIER, 
SAMUEL  GOMPERS. 

Commission. 

FRANK  A.  TIERNEY, 

Secretary. 
ABRAM  I.  ELKTJS, 

Chief  Counsel. 

BERNARD  L.  SHIENTAG, 

Associate  Counsel. 

•  Woodrow  Wilson;  "  The  New  Freedom." 


APPENDIX  I 


List  of  Bills  Submitted  to  the  Legislature  by  the  New 
York  State  Factory  Investigating  Commission. 


APPENDIX  I 

LIST  OF  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  THE  LEGISLATURE 
BY  THE  NEW  YOKK  STATE  FACTORY  INVESTI- 
GATING COMMISSION:* 

1.  Reorganization  of  Labor  Department;  Industrial  Board. 

2.  Penalties  for  violation  of  labor  law  and  industrial  code. 

3.  Fireproof  receptacles;  gas  jets;  smoking. 

4.  Fire  alarm  signal  systems  and  fire  drills. 

5.  Automatic  sprinklers. 

6.  Fire-escapes  and  exits;  limitation  of  number  of  occupants, 

construction  of  future  factory  buildings. 

7.  Amendment  to  Greater  New  York  Charter  (Fire  Preven- 

tion Law). 

8.  Prohibition  of  employment  of  children  under  fourteen  in 

cannery  sheds  or  tenement  houses;  definition  of  factory 
building;  definition  of  tenement  house. 

9.  Manufacturing  in  tenements. 

10.  Hours  of  labor  of  women  in  canneries. 

• 

11.  Housing  conditions  in  labor  camps  maintained  in  connection 

with  a  factory. 

12.  Physical  examination  of  children  employed  in  factories. 

13.  Amendments  to  child  labor  law;  physical  examination  be- 

fore issuance  of  employment  certificate;  school  record; 
supervision  over  issuance  of  employment  certificates. 

14.  Amendment  to  compulsory  education  law;  school  record. 

15.  Night  work  of  women  in  factories. 

16.  Seats  for  women  in  factories. 

17.  Bakeries. 

18.  Cleanliness  of  workrooms. 

19.  Cleanliness  of  factory  buildings. 

20.  Ventilation ;  general ;  special. 

21.  Washing  facilities;  dressing  rooms;  water  closets. 

22.  Accident  prevention;  lighting  of  factories  and  workrooms. 

23.  Elevators. 

24.  Dangerous  trades. 

25.  Foundries. 

26.  Employment  of  children  in  dangerous  occupations;  employ- 

ment of  women  in  core  rooms. 

27.  Labeling  of  containers  of  wood  alcohol. 

28.  Extension  of  jurisdiction  of  commission. 

*  All  except   No.   5  and   No.   27  were  passed  and  have  become  laws. 


298      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

BILL  NO.  1. 

AN  ACT 

To  AMEND  THE  LABOR  LAW,  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  ORGANIZATION 
OF  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR  AND  ITS  VARIOUS  BUREAUS, 
THE  CREATION  OF  AN  INDUSTRIAL  BOARD,  AND  THE  EXTEN- 
SION OF  THE  DEPARTMENT'S  JURISDICTION  OVER  MERCAN- 
TILE ESTABLISHMENTS  IN  CITIES  OF  THE  SECOND  CLASS. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  'York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Article  three  of  chapter  thirty-six  of  the  laws  of 
nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  entitled  "  An  act  relating  to  labor, 
constituting  chapter  thirty-one  of  the  consolidated  laws,"  as 
amended  by  chapter  five  hundered  and  fourteen  of  the  laws  of 
nineteen  hundred  and  ten,  chapter  seven  hundred  and  twenty-nine 
of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred  and  eleven  and  chapter  three 
hundred  and  eighty-two  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred  and 
twelve,  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows:* 

ARTICLE  3. 
DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR. 

Section  40.  Commissioner  of  labor. 

41.  Deputy  commissioners. 

42.  Bureaus. 

43.  Powers. 

44.  Salaries  and  expenses. 

45.  [Sub]  Branch  offices. 

46.  Reports. 

47.  Old  records. 

48.  Counsel. 

§  40.  Commissioner  of  labor.  There  shall  continue  to  be  a 
department  of  labor,  the  head  of  which  shall  be  the  commissioner 
of  labor,  who  shall  be  appointed  by  the  governor  by  and  with  the 

•  Matter  In  italics  is  new ;  matter  In  [  ]  is  old  law  to  be  omitted. 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      299 

consent  of  the  senate,  and  who  shall  hold  office  for  a  term 
of  four  years  beginning  on  the  first  day  of  January  of  the 
year  in  which  he  is  appointed.  He  shall  receive  an  annual  salary 
of  [five  thousand  five  hundred]  eight  thousand  dollars.  He  shall 
appoint  and  may  remove  all  officers,  clerks  and  other  employees 
in  the  department  of  labor  except  as  in  this  chapter  otherwise 
provided. 

§  41.  Deputy  commissioners.  The  commissioner  of  labor  shall 
forthwith  upon  entering  upon  the  duties  of  his  office,  appoint  and 
may  at  pleasure  remove  two  deputy  commissioners  of  labor[,  who 
shall  receive  such  annual  salaries,  not  to  exceed  four  thousand 
dollars  and  three  thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  respectively,  as 
may  be  appropriated  therefor.  The  powers  hereinafter  conferred 
upon  the  first  and  second  deputy  commissioners  shall  not  include 
the  appointment  of  officers,  clerks  or  other  employees  in  any  of 
the  bureaus  of  the  department  of  labor].  The  first  deputy  com- 
missioner shall  receive  a  salary  of  five  thousand  dollars  a  year; 
the  second  deputy  commissioner  shall  receive  a  salary  of  four 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars  a  year. 

The  first  deputy  commissioner  shall,  during  the  absence  or 
disability  of  the  commissioner  of  labor,  possess  all  the  powers  and 
perform  all  the  duties  of  the  commissioner  except  the  power  of 
appointment  and  removal.  During  the  absence  or  disability 
of  both  the  commissioner  of  labor  and  the  first  depuiy  com- 
missioner of  labor,  the  second  deputy  commissioner  shall  possess 
all  the  powers  and  perform  all  the  duties  of  the  commissioner 
except  the  power  of  appointment  and  removal.  In  addition  to 
their  duties  and  powers  as  prescribed  by  the  provisions  of  this 
chapter,  the  deputy  commissioners  of  labor  shall  perform  such 
other  duties  and  possess  such  other  powers  as  the  commissioner 
of  labor  may  prescribe. 

§  42.  Bureaus.  The  department  of  labor  shall  [be  divided 
into  five]  have  four  bureaus  as  follows:  [Factory]  inspection; 
[labor]  statistics  and  information;  mediation  and  arbitration 
and  industries  and  immigration[,  and  mercantile  inspection]. 
There  shall  be  such  other  bureaus  in  the  department  of  labor  as 
the  commissioner  of  labor  may  deem  necessary. 


300      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATUKE. 

§  43.  Powers.  1.  The  commissioner  of  labor,  his  deputies  and 
their  assistants  and  each  [special]  agent,  [confidential  agent,] 
chief  factory  inspector,  factory  inspector,  mine  inspector,  tunnel 
inspector,  chief  investigator,  special  investigator [s],  chief  mer- 
cantile inspector,  [or  deputy]  and  mercantile  inspector[s]  may 
administer  oaths  and  take  affidavits  in  matters  relating  to  the 
provisions  of  this  chapter  [and  may  also  serve  process  in  criminal 
actions  arising  thereunder]. 

2.  !N^o  person  shall  interfere  with,  obstruct  or  hinder  by  force 
or  otherwise  the  commissioner  of  labor,  any  member  of  the  indus- 
trial board,  or  any  officer,  agent  or  employee  of  the  department 
of  labor  [his   deputies,    their   assistants   or  the  special   agents, 
deputy    factory    inspectors,    chief    investigator,    special    investi- 
gators, the  mercantile  inspector,  or  deputy  mercantile  inspectors] 
while  in  the  performance  of  their  duties,  or  refuse  to  properly 
answer  questions  asked  by  such  officers  or  employees  pertaining 
to  the  provisions  of  this  chapter,  or  refuse  them  admittance  to  any 
place   [where   and   when   labor    is  being  performed]    which   is 
affected  by  the  provisions  of  this  chapter. 

3.  All  notices,  orders  and  directions  of  any  officer,  agent  or 
employee  of  the  department  of  labor  other  than  the  commissioner 
of  labor  or  the  industrial   board   [deputies,    assistants,    special 
agents,  deputy  factory  inspectors,  chief  investigator,  special  in- 
vestigators,  the  mercantile  inspector,  or  deputy  mercantile   in- 
spectors] given  in  accordance  with  this  chapter  are  subject  to  the 
approval  of  the  commissioner   of  labor[.     A],   and   [all   acts, 
notices,  orders,  permits  and  directions  by  any  provisions  of  this 
chapter  directed  to  be  performed  or  given  by  the  factory  inspector, 
chairman  of  the  board  of  mediation  and  arbitration,  chief  investi- 
gator, special  investigators,  mercantile  inspector  or  other  officer 
of  the  department  of  labor]  may  be  performed  or  given  by  and 
in  the  name  of  the  commissioner  of  labor  and  by  any  officer  or 
employee  of  the  department  thereunto  duly  authorized  by  such 
commissioner  in  the  name  of  such  commissioner. 

4.  The  commissioner  of  labor  may  procure  and  cause  to  be  used 
badges  for  himself  and  his  subordinates  in  the  department  of 
labor  while  in  the  performance  of  their  duties. 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      301 

§  44.  Salaries  and  expenses.  All  necessary  expenses  incurred 
by  the  commissioner  of  labor  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  shall 
be  paid  by  the  state  treasurer  upon  the  warrant  of  the  comptroller 
issued  upon  proper  vouchers  therefor.  The  reasonable  and  neces- 
sary traveling  and  other  expenses  of  the  deputy  commissioners, 
their  assistants,  the  [special]  agents  and  statisticians,  the  chief 
factory  inspectors,  the  [deputy]  factory  inspectors,  chief  in- 
vestigator, the  special  investigators,  the  chief  mercantile  in- 
spector^], [deputy]  mercantile  inspectors,  and  other  field 
officers  of  the  department  while  engaged  in  the  performance  of 
their  duties  shall  be  paid  in  like  manner  upon  vouchers  approved 
by  the  commissioner  of  labor  and  audited  by  the  comptroller. 

§  45.  [Sub]  Branch  offices.  [The  commissioner  of  labor  may 
establish  and  maintain  a  sub-office  in  any  city  if  in  his  opinion 
it  be  necessary.  He  may  designate  any  one  or  more  of  his  sub- 
ordinates to  take  charge  of  and  manage  any  such  office,  subject 
to  his  direction.]  The  commissioner  of  labor  shall  establish  and 
maintain  branch  offices  of  the  department  in  the  city  of  New  York 
and  in  such  other  cities  of  the  state  as  he  may  deem  advisable. 
Such  branch  offices  shall,  subject  to  the  supervision  and  direction 
of  the  commissioner  of  labor,  be  in  immediate  charge  of  such 
officials  or  employees  as  the  commissioner  of  labor  may  designate. 
The  reasonable  and  necessary  expenses  of  such  offices  shall  be  paid 
as  are  other  expenses  of  the  commissioner  of  labor. 

§  46.  Reports.  The  commissioner  of  labor  shall  report  an- 
nually to  the  legislature  and  shall  include  in  his  annual  report  or 
make  separately  in  each  year  a  report  of  the  operation  of  each 
bureau  in  the  department. 

§  47.  Old  records.  All  statistics  furnished  to  and  all  com- 
plaints, reports  and  other  documentary  matter  received  by  the 
commissioner  of  labor  pursuant  to  this  chapter  or  any  act  re- 
pealed or  superseded  thereby  may  be  destroyed  by  such  commis- 
sioner after  the  expiration  of  six  years  from  the  time  of  the  re- 
ceipt thereof. 

§  48.  Counsel.  [The  commissioner  of  labor  may  employ  coun- 
sel in  the  department  of  labor  to  represent  the  department  or  to 
assist  in  the  prosecution  of  actions  or  proceedings  brought  under 
the  provisions  of  this  chapter.  Such  counsel  shall  receive  such 


302      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

compensation  as  may  otherwise  be  provided  by  law.]  The  com- 
missioner of  labor  shall  appoint  and  may  at  pleasure  remove 
counsel  who  shall  be  an  attorney  and  counsellor  at  law  of  the  state 
of  New  York  to  represent  the  department  of  labor  and  to  take 
charge  of  and  assist  in  the  prosecution  of  actions  and  proceedings 
brought  by  or  on  behalf  of  the  commissioner  of  labor  or  the  de- 
partment of  labor,  and  generally  to  act  as  legal  adviser  to  the 
commissioner.  Such  counsel  shall  receive  a  salary  of  four  thou- 
sand dollars  a  year.  The  commissioner  of  labor  shall  have  power 
to  appoint  and  at  pleasure  remove  attorneys  and  counsellors  at 
law  to  assist  the  counsel  in  the  performance  of  his  duties  who 
shall  receive  such  compensation  as  may  be  provided  by  law. 

§  2.  Such  chapter  is  hereby  further  amended  by  inserting 
therein  after  article  three,  a  new  article  to  be  article  three-a 
thereof  to  read  as  follows: 

AKTICLE  3-A 
INDUSTRIAL  BOARD. 

Section  50.  Industrial  board ;  organization. 

51.  Jurisdiction  of  board. 

52.  Rules  and  regulations;  industrial  code. 

§  50.  Industrial  board;  organization.  1.  There  shall  be  an 
industrial  board,  to  consist  of  the  commissioner  of  labor,  who  shall 
be  chairman  of  the  board,  and  four  associate  members.  The  asso- 
ciate members  shall  be  appointed  by  the  governor  by  and  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  senate.  Of  the  associate  members  first 
appointed,  one  shall  hold  office  until  December  first,  nineteen 
hundred  and  fourteen,  one  until  December  first,  nineteen  hundred 
and  fifteen,  one  until  December  first,  nineteen  hundred  and  six- 
teen, and  one  until  December  first,  nineteen  hundrd  and  seven- 
teen. Upon  the  expiration  of  each  of  said  terms,  the  term  of  office 
of  each  associate  member  thereafter  appointed  shall  be  four  years 
from  the  first  day  of  December.  Vacancies  shall  be  filled  by  ap- 
pointment for  the  unexpired  term.  The  associate  members  shall 
each  receive  a  salary  of  three  thousand  dollars  a  year  and  each  of 
said  associate  members  shall  be  paid  his  reasonable  and  necessary 
traveling  and  other  expenses  while  engaged  in  the  performance  of 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      303 

his  duties  in  the  manner  provided  in  section  forty-four  of  this 
chapter. 

2.  The  board  shall  appoint  and  may  remove  a  secretary  who 
shall  receive  a  salary  to  be  fixed  by  the  board.    The  commissioner 
of  labor  shall  detail,  from  time  to  time,  to  the  assistance  of  the 
board,  such  employees  of  the  department  of  labor  as  the  board 
may  require.     In  aid  of  its  work,  the  board  is  empowered  to  em- 
ploy experts  for  special  and  occasional  services,  and  to  employ 
necessary  clerical  assistants.     The  counsel  to  the  department  of 
labor     shall     be     counsel     to     the     board     without     additional 
compensation. 

3.  The  board  shall  hold  stated  meetings,  at  least  once  a  month 
during  the  year  at  the  office  of  the  department  of  labor  in  the 
city  of  Albany  or  in  the  city  of  New  York  and  shall  hold  other 
meetings  at  such  times  and  places  as  the  needs  of  the  public  ser- 
vice may  require,  which  meetings  shall  be  called  by  the  chairman 
or  by  any  two  associate  members  of  the  board.     All  meetings  of 
the  board  shall  be  open  to  the  public.     The  board  shall  keep 
minutes  of  its  proceedings  showing  the  vote  of  each  member  upon 
every  question  and  records  of  its  examinations  and  other  official 
action. 

§  51.  Jurisdiction  of  board.  The  board  shall  have  power :  (1) 
To  make  investigations  concerning  and  report  upon  all  matters 
touching  the  enforcement  and  effect  of  the  provisions  of  this 
chapter  and  the  rules  and  regulations  made  by  the  board  there- 
under, and  in  the  course  of  such  investigations,  each  member  of 
the  board  and  the  secretary  shall  have  power  to  administer 
oaths  and  take  affidavits.  Each  member  of  the  board  and  the 
secretary  shall  have  power  to  make  personal  inspections  of  all 
factories,  factory  buildings,  mercantile  establishments  and  other 
places  to  which  this  chapter  is  applicable. 

(2)  To  subpoena  and  require  the  attendance  in  this  state  of 
witnesses  and  the  production  of  books  and  papers  pertinent  to  the 
investigations  and  inquiries  hereby  authorized  and  to  examine 
them  in  relation  to  any  matter  which  it  has  power  to  investigate, 
and  to  issue  commissions  for  the  examination  of  witnesses  who  are 
out  of  state  or  unable  to  attend  before  the  board  or  excused 
from  attendance. 


304      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATUEE. 

(3)  To  make,  alter,  amend  and  repeal  rules  and  regulations 
for  carrying  into  effect  the  provisions  of  this  chapter,  applying 
such   provisions   to   specific   conditions   and   prescribing   specific 
means,  methods  or  practices  to  effectuate  such  provisions. 

(4)  To  make,  alter,  amend,  or  repeal  rules  and  regulations  for 
guarding  against  and  minimizing  fire  hazards,  personal  injuries 
and  disease,  with  respect  to  (a)  the  construction,  alteration,  equip- 
ment and  maintenance  of  factories,  factory  buildings,  mercantile 
establishments  and  other  places  to  which  this  chapter  is  applicable, 
including  the  conversion  of  structures  into  factories  and  factory 
buildings;  (b)  the  arrangement  and  guarding  of  machinery  and 
the  storing  and  keeping  of  property  and  articles  in  factories,  fac- 
tory  buildings   and   mercantile   establishments;    (c)    the    places 
where  and  the  methods  and  operations  by  which  trades  and  occu- 
pations may  be  conducted  and  the  conduct  of  employers,   em- 
ployees and  other  persons  in  and  about  factories,  factory  build- 
ings and  mercantile  establishments;  it  being  the  policy  and  in- 
tent of  this  chapter  that  all  factories,  factory  buildings,  mercantile 
establishments   and   other   places   to   which   this   chapter   is    ap- 
plicable, shall  be  so  constructed,  equipped,  arranged,  operated  and 
conducted  in  all  respects  as  to  provide  reasonable  and  adequate 
protection  to  the  lives,  health  and  safety  of  all  persons  employed 
therein  and  that  the  said  board  shall  from  time  to  time  make 
such  rules  and  regulations  as  will  effectuate  the  said  policy  and 
intent. 

§  52.  Rules  and  regulations ;  industrial  code.  1.  The  rules 
and  regulations  adopted  by  the  board  pursuant  to  the  provisions 
of  this  chapter  shall  have  the  force  and  effect  of  law  and  shall 
be  enforced  in  the  same  manner  as  the  provisions  of  this  chapter. 
Sucli  rules  and  regulations  may  apply  in  whole  or  in  part  to 
particular  kinds  of  factories  or  workshops,  or  to  particular  ma- 
chines, apparatus  or  articles ;  or  to  particular  processes,  industries, 
trades  or  occupations ;  and  they  may  be  limited  in  their  applica- 
tion to  factories  or  workshops  to  be  established,  or  to  machines, 
apparatus  or  other  articles  to  be  installed  or  provided  in  the 
future. 

2.  At  least  three  affirmative  votes  shall  be  necessary  to  the 
adoption  of  any  rule  or  regulation  by  the  board.  Before  any 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATUKE.      305 

rule  or  regulation  is  adopted,  altered,  amended  or  repealed  by 
the  board  there  shall  be  a  public  hearing  thereon,  notice  of 
which  shall  be  published  not  less  than  ten  days,  in  such  news- 
papers as  the  board  may  prescribe.  Every  rule  or  regulation 
and  every  act  of  the  board  shall  be  promptly  published  in  bulletins 
of  the  department  of  labor  or  in  such  newspapers  as  the  board 
may  prescribe.  The  rules  and  regulations,  and  alterations,  amend- 
ments and  changes  thereof  shall,  unless  otherwise  prescribed  by 
the  board,  take  effect  twenty  days  after  the  first  publication 
thereof. 

3.  The  rules  and  regulations  which  shall  be  in  force  on  the 
first  day  of  January,  nineteen  hundred  and  fourteen,  and  the 
amendments  and  alterations  thereof,  and  the  additions  thereto, 
shall  constitute  the  industrial  code.  The  industrial  code  may 
embrace  all  matters  and  subjects  to  which  and  so  far  as  the 
power  and  authority  of  the  department  of  labor  extends  and  its 
application  need  not  be  limited  to  subjects  enumerated  in  this 
article.  The  industrial  code  and  all  amendments  and  alterations 
thereof  and  additions  thereto  shall  be  certified  by  the  secretary 
of  the  board  and  filed  with  the  secretary  of  state. 

§  3.  Such  chapter  is  hereby  further  amended  by  inserting 
therein  after  section  twenty-a,  a  new  section,  to  be  section 
twenty-b,  to  read  as  follows: 

§  20-b.  Protection  of  employees.  All  factories,  factory  'build- 
ings, mercantile  establishments  and  other  places  to  which  this 
chapter  is  applicable,  shall  be  so  constructed,  equipped,  arranged, 
operated  and  conducted  in  all  respects  as  to  provide  reasonable 
and  adequate  protection  to  the  lives,  health  and  safety  of  all  per- 
sons employed  therein.  The  industrial  board  shall,  from  time  to 
time,  make  such  rules  and  regulations  as  will  carry  into  effect  the 
provisions  of  this  section. 

§  4.  Article  five  of  such  chapter  as  amended  by  chapter  seven 
hundred  and  twenty-nine  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred  and 
eleven  and  chapter  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  of  the  laws  of 
nineteen  hundred  and  twelve  is  hereby  renumbered  article  four, 
inserted  in  place  of  present  article  four  hereinafter  renumbered 
and  amended  to  read  as  follows: 

20 


306      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

ARTICLE  [5]  4. 
BUREAU  OF  [FACTORY]  INSPECTION. 

[Section  60.  Chief  factory  inspector. 

61.  Factory  inspectors. 

62.  General  powers  and  duties. 

63.  Reports. 

67.  Duties  relative  to  apprentices. 

68.  Laws  to  be  posted.] 

Section  53.  Bureau  of  inspection;  inspector  general;  divisions. 

54.  Inspectors. 

55.  Division  of  factory  inspection;  factory  inspection 

districts;  chief  factory  inspectors. 

56.  Idem;  general  powers  and  duties. 

57.  Division  of  homework  inspection. 

58.  Division  of  mercantile  inspection. 

59.  Idem;  general  powers  and  duties. 

60.  Division  of  industrial  hygiene. 

61.  Section  of  medical  inspection. 

[§  60.  Chief  factory  inspector.]  §  53.  Bureau  of  inspection; 
inspector  general;  divisions.  [There  shall  continue  to  be  a 
bureau  of  factory  inspection.]  The  bureau  of  inspection,  sub- 
ject to  the  supervision  and  direction  of  the  commissioner  of  labor, 
shall  have  charge  of  all  inspections  made  pursuant  to  the  pro- 
visions of  this  chapter,  and  shall  perform  such  other  duties  as 
may  be  assigned  to  it  by  the  commissioner  of  labor.  The  first 
deputy  commissioner  of  labor  shall  be  the  [chief  factory]  in- 
spector general  of  the  state,  and  in  charge  of  this  bureau  subject 
to  the  direction  and  supervision  of  the  commissioner  of  labor, 
except  that  the  division  of  industrial  hygiene  shall  be  under  the 
immediate  direction  and  supervision  of  the  commissioner  of 
labor.  Such  bureau  shall  have  four  divisions  as  follows:  factory 
inspection,  homework  inspection,  mercantile  inspection  and  in- 
dustrial hygiene.  There  shall  be  such  other  divisions  in  such 
bureau  as  the  commissioner  of  labor  may  deem  necessary.  In 
addition  to  their  respective  duties  as  prescribed  by  the  provisions 
of  this  chapter,  such  divisions  shall  perform  such  other  duties  as 
may  be  assigned  to  them  by  the  commissioner  of  labor. 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      307 

[§  61.]  §  54-  [Factory]  Inspectors.  [The  commissioner  of 
labor  may  appoint  from  time  to  time  not  more  than  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  persons,  as  factory  inspectors,  not  more 
than  twenty  of  whom  shall  be  women,  and  who  may  be  removed 
by  him  at  any  time.  The  factory  inspectors  may  be  divided  into 
five  grades,  but  not  more  than  thirty  shall  be  of  the  third  grade, 
and  not  more  than  eight  shall  be  of  the  fourth  grade  and  not 
more  than  one  shall  be  of  the  fifth  grade.  Each  inspector  of  the 
first  grade  shall  receive  an  annual  salary  of  one  thousand  dollars, 
each  of  the  second  grade  an  annual  salary  of  one  thousand  two 
hundred  dollars  and  each  of  the  third  grade  an  annual  salary 
of  one  thousand  five  hundred  dollars.  There  shall  be  after 
October  first,  nineteen  hundred  and  eleven,  no  further  appoint- 
ments in  the  first  grade  and  no  vacancies  in  the  first  grade  shall 
be  filled.  There  may  be  at  any  time  not  to  exceed  ninety  persons 
in  the  second  grade.  Each  inspector  of  the  fourth  grade  shall 
receive  an  annual  salary  of  two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars. 
Each  inspector  of  the  fifth  grade  shall  receive  an  annual  salary 
of  three  thousand  five  hundred  dollars.  Each  inspector  of  the 
fifth  grade  shall  be  a  mechanical  engineer]  1.  Factory  in- 
spectors. There  shall  be  not  less  than  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  factory  inspectors,  not  more  than  thirty  of  whom  shall  be 
women.  Such  inspectors  shall  be  appointed  by  the  commissioner 
of  labor  and  may  be  removed  by  him  at  any  time.  The  inspectors 
shall  be  divided  into  seven  grades.  Inspectors  of  the  first  grade,  of 
whom  there  shall  be  not  more  than  ninety-five,  shall  each  receive 
an  annual  salary  of  one  thousand  two  hundred  dollars;  inspectors 
of  the  second  grade,  of  whom  there  shall  be  not  more  than 
fifty,  shall  each,  receive  an  annual  salary  of  one  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars;  inspectors  of  the  third  grade,  of  whom  there 
shall  be  not  more  than  twenty-five,  shall  each  receive  an  annual 
salary  of  one  thousand  eight  hundred  dollars;  inspectors  of  the 
fourth  grade,  of  whom  there  shall  be  not  more  than  ten,  shall  each 
receive  an  annual  salary  of  two  thousand  dollars  and  shall  be 
attached  to  the  division  of  industrial  hygiene  and  act  as  investi- 
gators in  such  division;  inspectors  of  the  fifth  grade,  of  whom  there 
shall  be  not  more  than  nine,  one  of  whom  shall  be  able  to  speak  and 
write  at  least  five  European  languages  in  addition  to  English, 


308      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

shall  each  receive  an  annual  salary  of  two  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars  and  shall  act  as  supervising  inspectors;  inspectors  of  the 
sixth  grade  of  whom  there  shall  be  not  less  than  three  and  one\ 
of  whom  shall  be  a  woman  shall  act  as  medical  inspectors  and 
shall  each  receive  an  annual  salary  of  two  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars;  inspectors  of  the  seventh  grade  of  whom  there  shall  be 
not  less  than  four,  shall  each  receive  an  annual  salary  of  three, 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars;  all  of  the  inspectors  of  the  sixth 
grade  shall  be  physicians  duly  licensed  to  practice  medicine  in 
the  state  of  New  York.  Of  the  inspectors  of  the  seventh  grade 
one  shall  be  a  physician  duly  licensed  to  practice  medicine  in  the 
state  of  New  York,  and  he  shall  be  the  chief  medical  inspector; 
one  shall  be  a  chemical  engineer;  one  shall  be  a  mechanical  engi- 
neer, and  an  expert  in  ventilation  and  accident  prevention;  and 
one  shall  be  a  civil  engineer,  and  an  expert  in  fire  prevention  and 
building  construction. 

2.  Mercantile  inspectors.  The  commissioner  of  labor  may  ap- 
point from  time  to  time  not  more  than  twenty  mercantile  in- 
spectors not  less  than  four  of  whom  shall  be  women  and  who  may 
be  removed  by  him  at  any  time.  The  mercantile  inspectors  may 
be  divided  into  three  grades  but  not  more  than  five  shall  be  of 
the  third  grade.  Each  mercantile  inspector  of  the  first  grade  shall 
receive  an  annual  salary  of  one  thousand  dollars;  of  the  second 
grade  an  annual  salary  of  one  thousand  two  hundred  dollars;  and 
of  the  third  grade  an  annual  salary  of  one  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars. 

§  55.  Division  of  factory  inspection;  factory  inspection  dis- 
tricts; chief  factory  inspectors.  For  the  inspection  of  factories, 
there  shall  be  two  inspection  districts  to  be  known  as  the  first 
factory  inspection  district  and  the  second  factory  inspection  dis- 
trict. The  first  factory  inspection  district  shall  include  the  coun- 
ties of  New  York,  Bronx,  Kings,  Queens,  Richmond,  Nassau  and 
Suffolk.  The  second  factory  inspection  district  shall  include  all 
the  other  counties  of  the  state.  There  shall  be  two  chief  factory 
inspectors  who  shall  be  appointed  by  the  commissioner  of  labor 
and  who  may  be  removed  by  him  at  any  time  and  each  of  whom 
shall  receive  a  salary  of  four  thousand  dollars  a  year.  The  inspec- 
Hon  of  factories  in  each  factory  inspection  district  shall,  subject 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      309 

to  the  supervision  and  direction  of  the  commissioner  of  labor,  be 
in  charge  of  a  chief  factory  inspector  assigned  to  such  district  by 
the  commissioner  of  labor.  The  commissioner  of  labor  may  desig- 
nate one  of  the  supervising  inspectors  as  assistant  chief  factory 
inspector  for  the  first  district,  and  while  acting  as  such  assistant 
chief  factory  inspector  he  shall  receive  an  additional  salary  of  five 
hundred  dollars  per  annum. 

§  [62]  56.  Id.;  general  powers  and  duties.  1.  The  commis- 
sioner ^f  labor  shall,  from  time  to  time,  divide  the  state  into  sub- 
districts,  assign  one  factory  inspector  of  the  [fourth]  fifth  grade 
to  each  swfr-district  as  supervising  inspector,  and  may  in  his  dis- 
cretion transfer  [them]  such  supervising  inspector  from  one  sub- 
district  to  another ;  he  shall  from  time  to  time,  assign  and  transfer 
factory  inspectors  to  each  factory  inspection  district  and  to  any 
of  the  divisions  of  the  bureau  of  inspection;  he  may  assign  any 
factory  inspector  to  inspect  any  special  class  or  classes  of  factories 
or  to  enforce  any  special  provisions  of  this  chapter;  and  he  may 
assign  any  one  or  more  of  them  to  act  as  clerks  in  any  office  of  the 
department. 

2.  The  commissioner  of  labor  may  authorize  any  deputy  com- 
missioner or  assistant  and  any  [special]  agent  or  inspector  in 
the  department  of  labor  to  act  as  a  [deputy]  factory  inspector 
with  the  full  power  and  authority  thereof. 

3.  The  commissioner  of  labor,  the  first  deputy  commissioner  of 
labor  and  his  assistant  or  assistants,  and  every  factory  inspector 
and  every  person  duly  authorized  pursuant  to  sub-division  two 
of  this  section,  may,  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  enter  any  place, 
building  of  room  [where  and  when  any  labor  is  being  performed] 
which  is  affected  by  the  provisions  of  this  chapter  and  may  enter 
any  factory  whenever  he  may  have  reasonable  cause  to  believe 
that  any  [such]  labor  is  being  performed  therein. 

4.  The  commissioner  of  labor  shall  visit  and  inspect  or  cause 
to  be  visited  and  inspected  the  factories,  during  reasonable  hours, 
as  often  as  practicable,   and  shall  cause  the  provisions  of  this 
chapter  and  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  industrial  board  to 
be  enforced  therein. 

5.  Any  lawful  municipal  ordinance,  by-law  or  regulation  re- 
lating to  factories,  in  addition  to  the  provisions  of  this  chapter 


310      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

and  not  in  conflict  therewith,  may  be  observed  and  enforced  by 
the  commissioner  of  labor. 

§  57.  Division  of  homework  inspection.  The  division  of  home- 
work inspection  shall  be  in  charge  of  an  officer  or  employee  of 
the  department  of  labor  designated  by  the  commissioner  of  labor 
and  shall,  subject  to  the  supervision  and  direction  of  the  commis- 
sioner of  labor,  have  charge  of  all  inspections  of  tenement  houses 
and  of  labor  therein  and  of  all  work  done  for  factories  at  places 
other  than  such  factories. 

§58.  Division  of  mercantile  inspection.  The  division  of  mer- 
cantile inspection  shall  be  under  the  immediate  charge  of  the 
chief  mercantile  inspector,  but  subject  to  the  direction  and  super- 
vision of  the  commissioner  of  labor.  The  chief  mercantile  in- 
spector shall  be  appointed  and  be  at  pleasure  removed  by  the  corn- 
commissioner  of  labor,  and  shall  receive  such  annual  salary  not  to 
exceed  three  thousand  dollars  as  may  be  appropriated  therefor. 

§  59.  Id.;  general  powers  and  duties.  1.  The  commissioner  of 
labor  may  divide  the  cities  of  the  first  and  second  class  of  the 
state  into  mercantile  inspection  districts,  assign  one  or  more 
mercantile  inspectors  to  each  such  district,  and  may  in  his  dis- 
cretion transfer  them  from  one  such  district  to  another;  he  may 
assign  any  of  them  to  inspect  any  special  class  or  classes  of  mer- 
cantile or  other  establishments  specified  in  article  twelve  of  this 
chapter,  situated  in  cities  of  the  first  and  second  class,  or  to  en- 
force in  cities  of  the  first  or  second  class  any  special  provision  of 
such  article. 

2.  The  commissioner  of  labor  may  authorize  any  deputy  com- 
missioner or  assistant  and  any  agent  or  inspector  in  the  depart- 
ment of  labor  to  act  as  a  mercantile  inspector  with  the  full  power 
and  authority  thereof. 

8.  The  commissioner  of  labor,  the  chief  mercantile  inspector 
and  his  assistant  or  assistants  and  every  mercantile  inspector 
or  acting  mercantile  inspector  may  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties 
enter  any  place,  building  or  room  in  cities  of  the  first  or  second 
class  which  is  affected  by  the  provisions  of  article  twelve  of  this 
chapter,  and  may  enter  any  mercantile  or  other  establishment 
specified  in  said  article,  situated  in  the  cities  of  the  first  or  second 
class,  whenever  he  may  have  reasonable  cause  to  believe  that  it  is 
affected  by  the  provisions  of  article  twelve  of  this  chapter. 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      311 

4.  The  commissioner  of  labor  shall  visit  and  inspect  or  cause  to 
be  visited  and  inspected  the  mercantile  and  other  establishments 
specified  in  article  twelve  of  this  chapter  situated  in  cities  of  the 
first  and  second  class,  as  often  as  practicable,  and  shall  cause  the 
provisions  of  said  article  and  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the 
industrial  board  to  be  enforced  therein. 

5.  Any  lawful  municipal  ordinance,  by-law  or  regulation  relat- 
ing  to   mercantile   or   other   establishments  specified  in   article 
twelve  of  this  chapter,  in  addition  to  the  provisions  of  this  chapter 
and  not  in  conflict  therewith,  may  be  enforced  by  the  commissioner 
of  labor  in  cities  of  the  first  and  second  class. 

§  60.  Division  of  industrial  hygiene.  The  inspectors  of  the 
seventh  grade  shall  constitute  the  division  of  industrial  hygiene, 
which  shall  be  under  the  immediate  charge  of  the  commissioner  of 
labor.  The  commissioner  of  labor  may  select  one  of  the  inspectors 
of  the  seventh  grade  to  act  as  the  director  of  such  division,  and 
such  director  while  acting  in  that  capacity  shall  receive  an  addi- 
tional compensation  of  five  hundred  dollars  a  year.  The  members 
of  the  division  of  industrial  hygiene  shall  make  special  inspections 
of  factories,  mercantile  establishments  and  other  places  subject  to 
the  provisions  of  this  chapter,  throughout  the  state,  and  shall  con- 
duct special  investigations  of  industrial  processes  and  conditions. 
The  commissioner  of  labor  shall  submit  to  the  industrial  board 
the  recommendations  of  the  division  regarding  proposed  rules  and 
regulations  and  standards  to  be  adopted  to  carry  into  effect  the 
provisions  of  this  chapter  and  shall  advise  said  board  concerning 
the  operation  of  such  rules  and  standards  and  as  to  any  changes 
or  modifications  to  be  made  therein.  The  members  of  such  divi- 
sion shall  prepare  material  for  leaflets  and  bulletins  calling  atten- 
tion to  dangers  in  particular  industries  and  the  precautions  to  be 
taken  to  avoid  them;  and  shall  perform  such  other  duties  and 
render  such  other  services  as  may  be  required  by  the  commissioner 
of  labor.  The  director  of  such  division  shall  make  an  annual  re- 
port to  the  commissioner  of  labor  of  the  operation  of  the  division,' 
to  which  may  be  attached  the  individual  reports  of  each  member 
of  the  division  as  above  specified,  and  same  shall  be  transmitted- 
to  the  legislature  as  part  of  the  annual  report  of  the  commissioner- 
of  labor. 


312      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

§  61.  Section  of  medical  inspection.  The  inspectors  of  the 
sixth  grade  shall  constitute  the  section  of  medical  inspection  which 
shall,  subject  to  the  supervision  and  direction  of  the  director  of 
the  division  of  industrial  hygiene,  be  under  the  immediate  charge 
of  the  chief  medical  inspector.  The  section  of  medical  inspection 
shall  inspect  factories,  mercantile  establishments  and  other  places 
subject  to  the  provisions  of  this  chapter  throughout  the  state  with 
respect  to  conditions  of  work  affecting  the  health  of  persons  em- 
ployed therein  and  shall  have  charge  of  the  physical  examination 
and  medical  supervision  of  all  children  employed  therein  and  shall 
perform  such  other  duties  and  render  such  other  services  as  the 
commissioner  of  labor  may  direct. 

§  5.  Article  four  of  such  chapter  as  amended  by  chapter  two 
hundred  and  fifty-eight  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred  and 
eleven,  is  hereby  renumbered  article  five,  inserted  in  place  of 
article  four  hereinbefore  renumbered,  and  amended  to  read  as 
follows : 

AKTICLE  [4]5. 

BUREAU  OF  [LABOR]  STATISTICS  AND  INFORMATION. 

Section  [55]££.  Bureau  of  [labor]  statistics  and  information. 
[56]t>3.  Divisions;  [D]duties  and  powers. 
[5  7]  6 If..   [Statistics]  Information  to  be  furnished  upon 

request. 
[58]65.  Industrial  poisoning  to  be  reported. 

§  [55]6#.  Bureau  of  [labor]  statistics  and  information. 
[There  shall  continue  to  be  a]  The  bureau  of  [labor]  statistics 
and  information,  [which]  shall  be  under  the  immediate  charge  of 
a  chief  statistician,  but  subject  to  the  direction  and  supervision  of 
the  commissioner  of  labor. 

§  [56]6#.  Divisions;  [D]duties  and  powers.  1.  The  bureau 
of  statistics  and  information  shall  have  five  divisions  as  follows: 
general  labor  statistics;  industrial  directory;  industrial  accidents 
and  diseases;  special  investigations;  and  printing  and  publication. 
There  shall  be  such  other  divisions  in  such  bureau  as  the  commis- 
sioner of  labor  may  deem  advisable.  Each  of  the  said  divisions 
shall,  subject  to  the  supervision  and  direction  of  the  commissioner 
of  labor  and  of  the  chief  statistician,  be  in  charge  of  an  officer  or 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      313 

employee  of  the  department  of  labor  designated  by  the  commis- 
sioner of  labor;  and  each  of  the  said  divisions,  in  addition  to  the 
duties  prescribed  in  this  chapter,  shall  perform  such  other  duties 
as  may  be  assigned  to  it  by  the  commissioner  of  labor. 

2.  The  [commissioner  of  labor]  division  of  general  labor  stat- 
istics shall  collect  [assort,  systemize  and  present  in  annual  re- 
ports to  the  legislature,  statistical  details]  and  prepare  statistics 
and  general  information  in  relation  to  [all  departments  of  labor 
in  the  state,  especially  in  relation  to  the  commercial,  industrial, 
social  and  sanitary  condition  of  workingmen]  conditions  of  labor 
and  [to]  the  [productive]  industries  of  the  state. 

8.  The  division  of  industrial  directory  shall  prepare  annually 
an  industrial  directory  for  all  cities  and  villages  having  a  popu- 
lation of  one  thousand  or  more  according  to  the  last  preceding 
federal  census  or  state  enumeration.  Such  directory  shall  contain 
information  regarding  opportunities  and  advantages  for  manu- 
facturing in  every  such  city  or  village,  the  factories  established 
therein,  hours  of  labor,  housing  conditions,  railroad  and  water 
connections,  water  power,  natural  resources,  wages  and  such  other 
data  regarding  social,  economic  and  industrial  conditions  as  in  the 
judgment  of  the  commissioner  would  be  of  value  to  prospective 
manufacturers,  and  their  employees.  If  a  city  is  divided  into 
boroughs  the  directory  shall  contain  such  information  as  to  each 
borough. 

4.  The  division  of  industrial  accidents  and  diseases  shall  collect 
and  prepare  statistical  details  and  general  information  regarding 
industrial  accidents  and  occupational  diseases,  their  causes  and 
effects,  and  methods  of  preventing,  curing  and  remedying  them, 
and  of  providing  compensation  therefor. 

5.  The  division  of  special  investigations  shall  have  charge  of  all 
investigations  and  research  work  relating  to  economic  and  social 
conditions  of  labor  conducted  by  such  bureau. 

6.  The  division  of  printing  and  publication  shall  print,  publish 
and  disseminate  in  such  manner  and  to  such  extent  as  the  commis- 
sioner of  labor  shall  direct,  such  information  and  statistics  as  the 
commissioner  of  labor  may  direct  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  the 
health,  safety  and  well  being  of  persons  employed  at  labor. 


314      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

7.  The  commissioner  of  labor  [He]  may  subpoena  witnesses, 
take  and  hear  testimony,  take  or  cause  to  be  taken  depositions  and 
administer  oaths. 

§  [5 7] 64-  [Statistics]  Information  to  be  furnished  upon  re- 
quest. The  owner,  operator,  manager  or  lessee  of  any  mine, 
factory,  workshop,  warehouse,  elevator,  foundry,  machine  shop 
or  other  manufacturing  establishment,  or  any  agent,  superintend- 
ent, subordinate,  or  employee  thereof,  and  any  person  employing 
or  directing  any  labor  affected  by  the  provisions  of  this  chapter, 
shall,  when  requested  by  the  commissioner  of  labor,  furnish  any 
information  in  his  possession  or  under  his  control  which  the  com- 
missioner is  authorized  to  require,  and  shall  admit  him  or  his  duly 
authorized  representative  to  any  place  [where  labor  is  carried  on] 
which  is  affected  by  the  provisions  of  this  chapter  for  the  purpose 
of  inspection.  [All  the  statistics  furnished  to  the  commissioner 
of  labor,  pursuant  to  this  article,  may  be  destroyed  by  such  com- 
missioner after  the  expiration  of  two  years  from  the  time  of  the 
receipt  thereof.]  A  person  refusing  to  admit  such  commissioner, 
or  person  authorized  by  him,  for  any  such  establishment,  or  to 
furnish  him  any  information  requested,  or  who  refuses  to  answer 
or  untruthfully  answers  questions  put  to  him  by  such  commis- 
sioner, in  a  circular  or  otherwise,  shall  forfeit  to  the  people  of  the 
state  the  sum  of  one  hundred  dollars  for  each  refusal  or  untruth- 
ful answer  given,  to  be  sued  for  and  recovered  by  the  commis- 
sioner in  his  name  of  office.  The  amount  so  recovered  shall  be 
paid  into  the  state  treasury. 

§  [58]  65.  Industrial  poisonings  to  be  reported.  1.  Every 
medical  practitioner  attending  on  or  called  in  to  visit  a  patient 
whom  he  believes  to  be  suffering  from  poisoning  from  lead,  phos- 
phorous, arsenic,  [or]  brass,  wood  alcohol,  mercury  or  their  com- 
pounds, or  from  anthrax,  or  from  compressed  air  illness,  con- 
tracted as  the  result  of  the  nature  of  the  patient's  employment, 
shall  send  to  the  commissioner  of  labor  a  notice  stating  the  name 
and  full  postal  address  and  place  of  employment  of  the  patient 
and  the  disease  from  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the  medical  practi- 
tioner, the  patient  is  suffering,  with  such  other  and  further  in- 
formation as  may  be  required  by  the  said  commissioner. 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      315 

2.  If  any  medical  practitioner,  when  required  by  this  section 
to  send  a  notice,  fails  forthwith  to  send  the  same,  he  shall  be 
liable  to  a  fine  not  exceeding  ten  dollars. 

3.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  commissioner  of  labor  to  enforce 
the  provisions  of  this  section,  and  he  may  call  upon  the  state  and 
local  boards  of  health  for  assistance. 

§  6.  Sections  forty-nine  and  sixty-three  of  such  chapter  are 
hereby  repealed. 

§  7.  Section  sixty-seven  of  such  chapter  is  hereby  renumbered 
section  twenty-two  and  inserted  in  article  two  after  section 
twenty-one,  to  read  as  follows: 

§  [67]  22.  Duties  relative  to  apprentices.  The  commissioner 
of  labor  shall  enforce  the  provisions  of  the  domestic  relations 
law,  relative  to  indenture  of  apprentices,  and  prosecute  employers 
for  failure  to  comply  with  the  provisions  of  such  indentures  and 
of  such  law  in  relation  thereto. 

§  8.  Section  sixty-eight  of  such  chapter  is  hereby  renumbered 
section  ninety-nine-a,  inserted  at  the  end  of  article  six,  and 
amended  to  read  as  follows: 

§  [68]  99.  Laws  to  be  posted.  [A  copy  or  abstract] 
Copies  or  digests  of  the  provisions  of  this  chapter  and  of  the  rules 
and  regulations  of  the  industrial  board,  applicable  thereto,  in 
English  and  in  such  other  languages  as  the  commissioner  of  labor 
may  require,  to  be  prepared  and  furnished  by  the  commissioner 
of  labor,  shall  be  kept  posted  by  the  employer  in  [a]  such  con- 
spicuous place  or  places  as  the  commissioner  of  labor  may  direct 
on  each  floor  of  every  factory  where  persons  are  employed  who 
are  affected  by  the  provisions  thereof. 

§  9.  Section  sixty-nine  of  such  chapter  as  amended  by  chapter 
three  hundred  and  thirty-five  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred 
and  twelve,  is  hereby  transferred  to  and  inserted  in  article  six 
of  such  chapter,  instead  of  article  five. 

§  10.  Such  chapter  is  hereby  further  amended  by  inserting 
therein  in  article  nine,  before  section  one  hundred  and  twenty, 
a  new  section,  to  be  section  one  hundred  and  nineteen  to  read  as 
follows : 

§  119.  Protection  of  employees  in  mines,  tunnels  and  quarries. 
Every  necessary  precaution  shall  be  taken  to  insure  the  safety 


316      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

and  health  of  employees  employed  in  the  mines  and  quarries  and 
in  the  construction  of  tunnels  in  the  state.  The  industrial  board 
shall  have  power  to  adopt  rules  and  regulations  to  carry  into 
effect  the  provisions  of  this  article  and  may  amend  or  repeal  rules 
and  regulations  heretofore  prescribed  by  the  commissioner  of 
labor  under  the  provisions  of  this  article.  The  rules  and  regula- 
tions heretofore  prescribed  by  the  commissioner  of  labor  under 
this  article  shall  continue  in  force  until  amended  or  repealed  by 
the  industrial  board. 

§  11.  Section  one  hundred  and  twenty  of  such  chapter  is  hereby 
amended  to  read  as  follows: 

§  120.  Duties  of  commissioner  of  labor  relating  to  mines, 
tunnels  and  quarries ;  record  and  report.  1.  The  commissioner  of 
labor  shall  enforce  the  provisions  of  this  article,  the  rules  and 
regulations  adopted  by  the  industrial  board  pursuant  thereto,  and 
the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  commissioner  of  labor  continued 
in  force  by  this  article. 

2.  The  commissioner  of  labor  shall  [see  that  every  necessary 
precaution  is  taken  to  insure  the  safety  and  health  of  employees 
employed  in  the  mines  and  quarries  in  the  construction  of  tunnels 
of  the  state  and  shall  prescribe  rules  and  regulations  therefor;] 
keep  a  record  of  the  names  and  location  of  [such]  all  mines, 
tunnels  and  quarries,  and  the  names  of  the  persons  or  corpora- 
tions owning  or  operating  the  same ;  collect  data  concerning  the 
working  thereof;  examine  carefully  into  the  method  of  timbering 
shafts,  drifts,  inclines,  slopes  and  tunnels,  through  which  em- 
ployees and  other  persons  pass,  in  the  performance  of  their  daily 
labor,  and  see  that  the  persons  or  corporations  owning  and  operat- 
ing such  mines,  and  quarries  and  constructing  tunnels  comply 
with  the  provisions  of  this  chapter ;  and  such  information  shall  be 
furnished  by  the  person  operating  such  mine,  tunnel  or  quarry, 
upon  the  demand  of  the  commissioner  of  labor.  The  commis- 
sioner of  labor  shall  keep  a  record  of  all  mine,  tunnel  and  quarry 
examinations,  showing  the  date  thereof,  and  the  condition  in 
which  the  mines,  tunnels  and  quarries  are  found,  and  the  manner 
of  working  the  same.  He  shall  make  an  annual  report  to  the 
legislature  during  the  month  of  January,  containing  a  statement 
of  the  number  of  mines,  tunnels  and  quarries  visited,  the  number 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      317 

in  operation,  the  number  of  men  employed,  and  the  number  and 
cause  of  accidents,  fatal  and  nonfatal,  that  may  have  occurred  in 
and  about  the  same. 

§  12.  Article  ten-a  of  such  chapter  is  hereby  renumbered  arti- 
cle eleven  and  inserted  in  place  of  present  article  eleven  herein- 
after renumbered. 

§  13.  Article  eleven  of  such  chapter  is  hereby  renumbered  arti- 
ticle  twelve  and  inserted  in  place  of  present  article  twelve  herein- 
after repealed. 

§  14.  Sections  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven,  one  hundred  and 
sixty-eight,  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine,  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
one,  one  hundred  and  seventy-two  and  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
three  of  such  chapter  are  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows: 

§  167.  Registry  of  children  employed.  The  owner,  manager 
or  agent  of  a  mercantile  or  other  establishment  specified  in  sec- 
tion one  hundred  and  sixty-one,  employing  children,  shall  keep 
or  cause  to  be  kept  in  the  office  of  such  establishment,  a  register, 
in  which  shall  be  recorded  the  name,  birthplace,  age  and  place 
of  residence  of  all  children  so  employed  under  the  age  of  sixteen 
years.  Such  register  and  the  certificate  filed  in  such  office  shall 
be  produced  for  inspection,  upon  the  demand  of  an  officer  of  the 
board,  department  or  commissioner  of  health  of  the  town,  village 
or  city  where  such  establishment  is  situated,  or  if  such  establish- 
ment is  situated  in  a  city  of  the  first  or  second  class,  upon  the 
demand  of  the  commissioner  of  labor.  On  termination  of  the 
employment  of  the  child  so  registered  and  whose  certificate  is  so 
filed,  such  certificate  shall  be  forthwith  surrendered  by  the  em- 
ployer to  the  child  or  its  parent  or  guardian  or  custodian.  An 
officer  of  the  board,  department  or  commissioner  of  health  of  the 
town,  village  or  city  where  a  mercantile  or  other  establishment 
mentioned  in  this  article  is  situated,  or  if  such  establishment  is 
situated  in  a  city  of  the  first  or  second  class  the  commissioner 
of  labor  may  make  demand  on  an  employer  in  whose  establish- 
ment a  child  apparently  under  the  age  of  sixteen  years  is  em- 
ployed or  permitted  or  suffered  to  work,  and  whose  employment 
certificate  is  not  then  filed  as  required  by  this  chapter,  that  such 
employer  shall  either  furnish  him,  within  ten  days,  evidence  satis- 
factory to  him  that  such  child  is  in  fact  over  sixteen  years  of 
age,  or  shall  cease  to  employ  or  permit  or  suffer  such  child  to 


318      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

work  in  such  establishment.  The  officer  may  require  from  such 
employer  the  same  evidence  of  age  of  such  child  as  is  required 
on  the  issuance  of  an  employment  certificate;  and  the  employer 
furnishing  such  evidence  shall  not  be  required  to  furnish  any 
further  evidence  of  the  age  of  the  child.  A  notice  embodying 
such  demand  may  be  served  on  such  employer  personally  or  may 
be  sent  by  mail  addressed  to  him  at  said  establishment,  and  if 
served  by  post  shall  be  deemed  to  have  been  served  at  the  time 
when  the  letter  containing  the  same  would  be  delivered  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  the  post.  When  the  employer  is  a  corporation 
such  notice  may  be  served  either  personally  upon  an  officer  of 
such  corporation,  or  by  sending  it  by  post  addressed  to  the  office 
or  the  principal  place  of  business  of  such  corporation.  The  papers 
constituting  such  evidence  of  age  furnished  by  the  employer  in 
response  to  such  demand  shall,  except  in  cities  of  the  first  and 
second  class,  be  filed  with  the  board,  department  or  commissioner 
of  health,  and  in  cities  of  the  first  and  second  class  with  the  com- 
missioner of  labor,  and  a  material  false  statement  made  in 
such  paper  or  affidavit  by  any  person  shall  be  a  misdemeanor. 
In  case  such  employer  shall  fail  to  produce  and  deliver  to  the 
officer  of  the  board,  department  or  commissioner  of  health,  or 
in  cities  of  the  first  and  second  class  to  the  commissioner  of  labor, 
within  ten  days  after  such  demand  such  evidence  of  age  herein 
required  by  him,  and  shall  thereafter  continue  to  employ  such 
child  or  permit  or  suffer  such  child  to  work  in  such  mercantile 
or  other  establishment,  proof  of  the  giving  of  such  notice  and  of 
such  failure  to  produce  and  file  such  evidence  shall  be  prima  facie 
evidence  in  any  prosecution  brought  for  a  violation  of  this  article 
that  such  child  is  under  sixteen  years  of  age  and  is  unlawfully 
employed. 

§  168.  Wash-rooms  and  water-closets.  Suitable  and  proper 
wash-rooms  and  water-closets  shall  be  provided  in,  adjacent  to 
or  connected  with  mercantile  establishments.  Such  rooms  and 
closets  shall  be  so  located  and  arranged  as  to  be  easily  accessible 
to  the  employees  of  such  establishments. 

Such  water-closets  shall  be  properly  screened  and  ventilated, 
and,  at  all  times,  kept  in  a  clean  condition.  The  water-closets 
assigned  to  the  female  employees  of  such  establishments  shall  be 
separate  from  those  assigned  to  the  male  employees. 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      319 

If  a  mercantile  establishment  has  not  provided  wash-rooms  and 
water-closets  as  required  by  this  section,  the  board  or  department 
of  health  or  health  commissioners  of  the  town,  village  or  city 
where  such  establishment  is  situated,  unless  such  establishment  is 
situated  in  a  city  of  the  first  or  second  class,  in  which  case  the 
commissioner  of  labor  shall  cause  to  be  served  upon  the  owner, 
agent  or  lessee  of  the  building  occupied  by  such  establishment  a 
written  notice  of  the  omission  and  directing  such  owner,  agent  or 
lessee  to  comply  with  the  provisions  of  this  section  respecting  such 
wash-rooms  and  water-closets. 

Such  owner  shall,  within  fifteen  days  after  the  receipt  of  such 
notice,  cause  such  wash-rooms  and  water-closets  to  be  provided. 

§  169.  Lunch-rooms.  If  a  lunch-room  is  provided  in  a  mer- 
cantile establishment  where  females  are  employed,  such  lunch- 
room shall  not  be  next  to  or  adjoining  the  water-closets,  unless 
permission  is  first  obtained  from  the  board  or  department  of 
health  or  health  commissioners  of  the  town,  village  or  city  where 
such  mercantile  establishment  is  situated,  unless  such  establish- 
ment is  situated  in  a  city  of  the  first  or  second  class  in  which  case 
such  permission  must  be  obtained  from  the  commissioner  of  labor. 
Such  permission  shall  be  granted  unless  it  appears  that  proper 
sanitary  conditions  do  not  exist,  and  it  may  be  revoked  at  any 
time  by  the  board  or  department  of  health  or  health  commissioners 
if  it  appears  that  such  lunch-room  is  kept  in  a  manner  or  in  a 
part  of  a  building  injurious  to  the  health  of  the  employees,  unless 
such  establishment  is  situated  in  a  city  of  the  first  or  second  class, 
in  which  case  sand  permission  may  be  so  revoked  by  the  commis- 
sioner of  labor. 

§  171.  Employment  of  women  and  children  in  basements. 
Women  or  children  shall  not  be  employed  or  permitted  to  work 
in  the  basement  of  a  mercantile  establisment,  unless  permitted 
by  the  board  or  department  of  health,  or  health  commissioner  of 
the  town,  village  or  city  where  such  mercantile  establishment  is 
situated,  unless  such  establishment  is  situated  in  a  city  of  the 
first  or  second  class  in  which  case  such  permission  must  be  ob- 
tained from  the  commissioner  of  labor.  Such  permission  shall  be 
granted  unless  it  appears  that  such  basement  is  not  sufficiently 
lighted  and  ventilated,  and  is  not  in  good  sanitary  condition. 


320      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

§  172.  Enforcement  of  article.  Except  in  cities  of  the  first 
and  second  class  the  board  or  department  of  health  or  health  com- 
missioners of  a  town,  village  or  city  affected  by  this  article  shall 
enforce  the  same  and  prosecute  all  violations  thereof.  Proceed- 
ings to  prosecute  such  violations  must  be  begun  within  sixty  days 
after  the  alleged  offense  was  committed.  All  officers  and  members 
of  such  boards  or  department,  all  health  commissioners,  inspec- 
tors and  other  persons  appointed  or  designated  by  such  boards, 
departments  or  commissioners  may  visit  and  inspect,  at  reason- 
able hours  and  when  practicable  and  necessary,  all  mercantile  or 
other  establishments  herein  specified  within  the  town,  village  or 
city  for  which  they  are  appointed.  No  person  shall  interfere  with 
or  prevent  any  such  officer  from  making  such  visitations  and  in- 
spections, nor  shall  he  be  obstructed  or  injured  by  force  or  other- 
wise while  in  the  performance  of  his  duties.  All  persons  connected 
with  any  such  mercantile  or  other  establishment  herein  specified 
shall  properly  answer  all  questions  asked  by  such  officer  or  in- 
spector in  reference  to  any  of  the  provisions  of  this  article.  In 
cities  of  the  first  and  second  class  the  commissioner  of  labor  shall 
enforce  the  provisions  of  this  article,  and  for  that  purpose  he  and 
his  subordinates  shall  posseess  all  powers  herein  conferred  upon 
town,  village,  or  city  boards  and  departments  of  health  and  their 
commissioners,  inspectors  and  other  officers,  except  that  the 
board  or  department  of  health  of  said  cities  of  the  first  and  second 
class  shall  continue  to  issue  employment  certificates  as  provided 
in  section  one  hundred  and  sixty-three  of  this  chapter. 

§  173  [Copy  of  article  to  be  posted.  A  copy  of  this  article 
shall  be  posted  in  a  conspicuous  place  on  every  floor  in  each  es- 
tablishment wherein  three  or  more  persons  are  employed  who  are 
affected  by  this  provision.]  Laws  to  be  posted.  A  copy  or  ab~ 
stract  of  applicable  provisions  of  this  chapter  and  of  the  rules  and 
regulations  of  the  industrial  board  to  be  prepared  and  furnished  by 
the  commissioner  of  labor  shall  be  kept  posted  by  the  employer  in 
a  conspicuous  place  on  each  floor  of  every  mercantile  or  other 
establishment  specified  in  article  twelve  of  this  chapter  situated  in 
cities  of  the  first  or  second  class,  wherein  three  or  more  persons 
are  employed  who  are  affected  by  such  provisions. 

§  15.  Article  twelve  of  such  chapter  is  hereby  repealed. 

§  16.    This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately. 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      321 

BILL  Xo.  2. 

AN  ACT 

To  AMEND  THE  PENAL  LAW,  IN  RELATION  TO  VIOLATIONS  OF 
PROVISIONS  OF  THE  LABOR  LAW,  THE  INDUSTRIAL  CODE,  THE 
RULES  AND  REGULATIONS  OF  THE  INDUSTRIAL  BOARD  OF 
THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR  AND  THE  ORDERS  OF  THE 
COMMISSIONER  OF  LABOR. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Section  twelve  hundred  and  seventy-five  of  chapter 
eighty-eight  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  entitled 
"  An  act  to  provide  for  the  punishment  of  crime,  constituting 
chapter  forty  of  the  consolidated  laws,"  as  amended  by  chapter 
seven  hundred  and  forty-nine  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred 
and  eleven,  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows: 

§  1275.  Violations  of  provisions  of  labor  law;  the  industrial 
code;  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  industrial  board  of  the 
department  of  labor;  orders  of  the  commissioner  of  labor.  Any 
person  who  violates  or  does  not  comply  with  any  provision  of  the 
labor  law,  and  provision  of  the  industrial  code,  any  rule  or  regu- 
lation of  the  industrial  board  of  the  department  of  labor,  or  any 
lawful  order  of  the  commissioner  of  labor; 

[1.  The  provisions  of  article  three  of  the  labor  law,  relating 
to  the  department  of  labor ; 

2.  The  provisions  of  article  four  of  the  labor  law,  relating  to 
the  bureau  of  labor  statistics ; 

3.  The  provisions  of  artcle  five  of  the  labor  law,  relating  to 
the  bureau  of  factory  inspection ; 

4.  The  provisions  of  article  six  of  the  labor  law,  relating  to 
factories ; 

5.  The  provisions  of  artcle  seven  of  the  labor  law  relating  to 
the  manufacture  of  articles  in  tenements ; 

6.  The  provisions  of  article  eight  of  the  labor  law,  relating  to 
bakeries  and  confectionery  establishments ; 

21 


322      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

7.  The  provisions  of  article  eleven  of  the  labor  law,  relating 
to  mercantile  establishments,  and  the  employment  of  women  and 
children  therein ; 

8  A.]and  any  person  who  knowingly  makes  a  false  statement 
in  or  in  relation  to  any  application  made  for  an  employment  cer- 
tificate as  to  any  matter  required  by  article  six  and  eleven  of  the 
labor  law  to  appear  in  any  affidavit,  record,  transcript  or  certifi- 
cate therein  provided  for,  is  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  and  upon 
conviction  shall  be  punished,  except  as  in  this  chapter  otherwise 
provided,  for  a  first  offense  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  twenty  nor 
more  than  fifty  dollars;  for  a  second  offense  by  a  fine  of  not  less 
than  fifty  nor  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  or  by  im- 
prisonment for  not  more  than  thirty  days  or  by  both  such  fine  aud 
imprisonment;  for  a  third  offense  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  two 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  or  by  imprisonment  for  not  more  than 
sixty  days,  or  by  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment. 

§  2.  Section  twelve  hundred  and  seventy-three  of  such  chapter 
is  hereby  repealed. 

§  3.  This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately. 


BILL  No.  3. 
AN  ACT 

To  AMEND  THE  LABOR  LAW,  IN  RELATION  TO  FIKE  PREVENTION 

IN  FACTORIES. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Section  eighty-three-c  of  chapter  thirty-six  of  the 
laws  of  nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  entitled  "An  act  relating  to 
labor,  constituting  chapter  thirty-one  of  the  consolidated  laws," 
as  amended  by  chapter  three  hundred  and  twenty-nine  of  the 
laws  of  nineteen  hundred  and  twelve,  is  hereby  amended  to  read 
as  follows : 

§  83-c.  Fireproof  receptacles;  gas  jests;  smoking.  1.  Every 
factory  shall  be  provided  with  properly  covered  fireproof  recep- 
tacles, the  number,  style  and  location  of  which  shall  be  approved 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      323 

in  the  city  of  New  York  by  the  fire  commissioner,  and  elsewhere, 
by  the  commissioner  of  labor.  There  shall  be  deposited  in  such 
receptacles  all  inflammable  waste  materials,  cuttings  and  rubbish. 
No  waste  materials,  cuttings  or  [and]  rubbish  shall  be  permitted 
to  accumulate  on  the  floors  of  any  factory  but  shall  be  removed 
therefrom  not  less  than  twice  each  day.  All  such  waste  materials, 
cuttings  and  rubbish  shall  be  entirely  removed  from  a  factory 
building  at  least  once  in  each  day[.],  except  that  baled  waste 
material  may  be  stored  in  fireproof  enclosures  provided  that  all 
such  baled  waste  material  shall  be  removed  from  such  building  at 
least  once  in  each  month. 

2.  All  gas  jets  or  lights  in  factories  shall  be  properly  enclosed 
by  globes,  wire  cages  or  otherwise  properly  protected  in  a  man- 
ner approved  in  the  city  of  New  York  by  the  fire  commissioner 
of  such  city,  and  elsewhere,  by  the  commissioner  of  labor. 

3.  [Smoking  in  a  factory]  No  person  shall  smoke  in  any  fac- 
tory [is  prohibited].     A  notice  of  such  prohibition  stating  the 
penalty  for  violation  thereof  shall  be  posted  in  every  entrance 
hall  and  every  elevator  car,  and  in  every  stairhall  and  room  on 
every  floor  of  such  factory  in  English  and  also  in  such  other 
language  or  languages  as  the  fire  commissioner  of  the  city  of 
New  York  in  such  city,  and  elsewhere,  the  state  fire  marshal, 
shall  direct.     The  fire  commissioner  of  the  city  of  New  York  in 
such  city,  and  elsewhere,  the  state  fire  marshal  shall  enforce  the 
provisions  of  this  subdivision. 

§  2.  This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately. 


BILL  No.  4. 
AN  ACT 

To   AMEND   THE   LABOR  LAW,   IN   RELATION   TO   FIEE   ALABM 
SIGNAL  SYSTEMS  AND  FIKE  DEILLS. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Section  eighty-three-a  of  chapter  thirty-six  of  the 
laws  of  nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  entitled  "An  act  relating  to 


324      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

labor,  constituting  chapter  thirty-one  of  the  consolidated  laws," 
as  amended  by  chapter  three  hundred  and  thirty  of  the  laws  of 
nineteen  hundred  and  twelve,  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as 
follows : 

§  83-a.  Fire  alarm  signal  systems  and  fire  drills.  1.  Every 
factory  building  over  two  stories  in  height  in  which  more  than 
twenty-five  persons  are  employed  above  the  ground  floor  shall  be 
equipped  with  a  fire  alarm  signal  system  with  a  sufficient  number 
of  signals  clearly  audible  to  all  occupants  thereof.  The  industrial 
board  may  make  rules  and  regulations  prescribing  the  number 
and  location  of  such  signals.  Such  system  shall  be  installed  by 
the  owner  or  lessee  of  the  building  and  shall  permit  the  sound- 
ing of  all  the  alarms  within  the  building  whenever  the  alarm  is 
sounded  in  any  portion  thereof.  Such  system  shall  be  maintained 
in  good  working  order.  No  person  shall  tamper  with,  or  render 
ineffective  any  portion  of  said  system  except  to  repair  the  same. 
It  shall  be  the  duty  of  whoever  discovers  a  fire  to  cause  an  alarm 
to  be  sounded  immediately. 

2.  In  every  factory  building  over  two  stories  in  height  in  which 
more  than  twenty-five  persons  are  [regularly]  employed  above  the 
ground  [or  first]  floor,  a  fire  drill  which  will  conduct  all  the  occu- 
pants of  such  building  to  a  place  of  safety  and  in  which  all  [of] 
the  occupants  of  such  building  shall  participate  simultaneously 
shall  be  conducted  at  least  once  a  month  [every  three  months 
under  the  supervision  of  the  local  fire  department  or  one  of  its 
officers]. 

In  the  city  of  New  York  the  fire  commissioner  of  such  city, 
and  in  all  other  parts  of  the  state,  the  state  fire  marshal  shall 
cause  to  be  organized  and  shall  supervise  and  regulate  such  fire 
drills,  and  shall  make  rules,  regulations  and  special  orders  neces- 
sary or  suitable  to  each  situation  and  in  the  case  of  buildings  con- 
taining more  than  one  tenant,  necessary  or  suitable  to  the  adequate 
co-operation  of  all  the  tenants  of  such  building  in  a  fire  drill  of  all 
the  occupants  thereof.  Such  rules,  regulations  and  orders  may 
prescribe  upon  whom  shall  rest  the  duty  of  carrying  out  the  same. 
Such  special  orders  may  require  posting  of  the  same  or  an  abstract 
thereof.  A  demonstration  of  such  fire  drill  shall  be  given  upon  the 
request  of  an  authorized  representative  of  the  fire  department  of 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      325 

the  city,  village  or  town  in  which  the  factory  is  located,  and, 
except  in  the  city  of  New  York,  upon  the  request  of  the  state  fire 
marshal  or  any  of  his  deputies  or  assistants.  [Appropriate  rules 
and  regulations  to  make  effective  this  provision  shall  be  pre- 
pared for  the  city  of  New  York  by  the  fire  commissioner  of 
such  city,  and  for  other  parts  of  the  state,  by  the  state  fire  mar- 
shal. Such  rules  and  regulations  shall  be  posted  on  each  floor  of 
every  factory  to  which  they  apply.] 

8.  In  the  city  of  New  York  the  fire  commissioner  of  such  city, 
and  elsewhere,  the  state  fire  marshal  is  charged  with  the  duty  of 
enforcing  this  section. 

§  2.  This  act  shall  take  effect  October  first,  nineteen  hundred 
and  thirteen. 


BILL  No.  5. 
ACT 


To    AMEND    THE    LABOR   LAW,    IN    RELATION    TO    AUTOMATIC 

SPRINKLERS. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Section  eighty-three-b  of  chapter  thirty-six  of  the 
laws  of  nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  entitled  "An  act  relating  to 
labor,  constituting  chapter  thirty-one  of  the  consolidated  laws," 
as  amended  by  chapter  three  hundred  and  thirty-two  of  the  laws 
of  nineteen  hundred  and  twelve,  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as 
follows  : 

§  83-b.  Automatic  sprinklers.  In  every  factory  building 
heretofore  erected  over  seven  stories  or  over  ninety  feet  in  height 
in  which  wooden  flooring  or  wooden  trim  is  used,  and  in  which 
any  manufacturing  is  carried  on  and  more  than  two  hun- 
dred people  are  [regularly]  employed  above  the  seventh 
floor  or  more  than  ninety  feet  above  the  ground  level  of  such 
building,  and  in  every  factory  building  hereafter  erected  over 
seven  stories  or  over  ninety  feet  in  height  in  which  any  manufac- 
turing is  carried  on  above  the  seventh  floor,  the  owner  of  the 


326      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

building  shall  properly  install  a  properly  constructed  and  effec- 
tive automatic  sprinkler  system  throughout  the  same.  The 
sprinkler  system  shall  have  at  least  one  automatic  supply  capable 
of  furnishing  water  at  a  pressure  of  not  less  than  fifteen  pounds 
on  the  highest  line  of  sprinklers.  The  capacity  of  the  automatic 
supply  shall  be  ample  to  furnish  water  to  at  least  twenty-five  per 
centum  of  the  sprinklers  on  any  one  floor  area  as  defined  in  section 
seventy-nine-a,  subdivision  two  of  this  chapter  for  at  least  twenty 
minutes  at  the  average  rate  of  twenty  gallons  per  head  per 
minute.  Automatic  sprinkler  systems  shall  also  be  installed  in 
all  other  factory  buildings  where  the  safety  of  the  occupants  re- 
quires them.  The  industrial  board  shall  adopt  rules  and  regu- 
lations for  the  installation  of  automatic  sprinkler  systems  in  such 
cases.  The  industrial  board  shall  also  have  power  to  adopt  rules 
and  regulations  etsablishing  requirements  and  standards  for 
automatic  sprinkler  systems  in  addition  to  the  foregoing  require- 
ments and  not  inconsistent  therewith.  No  person  shall  tamper 
with,  or  render  ineffective,  any  portion  of  an  automatic  sprinkler 
system,  except  to  repair  the  same.  [The  owner  of  the  build- 
ing shall  install  an  automatic  sprinkler  system  approved  as  to 
form  and  manner  in  the  city  of  New  York  by  the  fire  commis- 
sioner of  such  city,  and  elsewhere,  by  the  state  fire  marshal. 
Such  installation  shall  be  made  within  one  year  after  this  sec- 
tion takes  effect,  but  the  fire  commissioner  of  the  city  of  New 
York  in  such  city  and  the  state  fire  marshal  elsewhere  may,  for 
good  cause  shown,  extend  such  time  for  an  additional  year.  A 
failure  to  comply  with  this  section  shall  be  a  misdemeanor  as 
provided  by  section  twelve  hundred  and  seventy-five  of  the  penal 
law  and  t]The  provisions  hereof  shall  [also]  be  enforced  in  the 
city  of  New  York  by  the  fire  commissioner  of  such  city  in  the 
manner  provided  by  title  three  of  chapter  fifteen  of  the  Greater 
New  York  charter,  and  elsewhere  by  the  state  fire  marshal,  in 
the  manner  provided  by  article  ten-a  of  the  insurance  law. 

§  2.  This  act  shall  take  effect  October  first,  nineteen  hundred 
and  thirteen. 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      327 

BILL  No.  6. 

AN  ACT 

To  AMEND  THE  LABOE  LAW,  IN  RELATION  TO  FIRE-ESCAPES  AND 
EXITS  IN  EXISTING  FACTORIES  ;  THE  FUTURE  CONSTRUCTION 
OF  FACTORY  BUILDINGS;  AND  THE  LIMITATION  OF  THE  NUM- 
BER OF  OCCUPANTS  IN  FACTORIES. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Article  six  of  chapter  thirty-six  of  the  laws  of  nine- 
teen hundred  and  nine,  entitled  "An  act  relating  to  labor,  con- 
stituting chapter  thirty-one  of  the  consolidated  laws,"  is  hereby 
amended  by  inserting  therein  after  section  seventy-nine,  six  new 
sections,  to  be  sections  seventy-nine-a,  seventy-nine-b,  seventy- 
nine-c,  seventy-nine-d,  seventy-nine-e  and  seventy-nine-f,  to  read 
as  follows: 

§  79-a.  Construction  of  factory  buildings  hereafter  erected.  No 
factory  shall  be  conducted  in  any  building  hereafter  erected  more 
than  one  story  in  height  unless  such  building  shall  conform  to  the 
following  requirements : 

1.  All  buildings  more  than  four  stories  in  height  shall  be  of 
fireproof  construction.    The  roofs  of  all  buildings  shall  be  covered 
with  incombustible  material  or  shall  be  of  tar  and  slag  or  plastic 
cement  supported  by  or  applied  to  arches  of  fireproof  material, 
and  the  cornices  shall  be  constructed  of  incombustible  material. 
All  exterior  walls  within  twenty-five  feet  of  any  non-fireproof 
building  shall  be  not  less  than  eight  inches  thick  and  shall  extend 
three  feet  above  the  roof. 

2.  Floor  area  and  required  exits.     The  term  floor  area  as  used 
in  this  section  signifies  the  entire  space  between  fire  walls,  or  be- 
tween a  fire  wall  and  an  exterior  wall  of  a  building,  or  between 
the  exterior  walls  of  the  building  where  there  is  no  intervening 
fire  wall.     From  every  floor  area  there  shall  be  not  less  than  two 
means  of  exit  remote  from  each  other,  one  of  which  on  every  floor 
above  the  ground  floor  shall  be  an  interior  enclosed  fireproof  stair- 
way or  an  exterior  enclosed  fireproof  stairway,  and  the  other  shall 
be  such  a  stairway  or  a  horizontal  exit.     No  point  in  any  floor 


328      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

area  shall  be  more  than  one  hundred  feet  distant  from  the  entrance 
to  one  such  means  of  exit.  Whenever  any  floor  area  exceeds  five 
thousand  square  feet  there  shall  be  provided  at  least  one  additional 
means  of  exit  as  hereinbefore  described  for  each  five  thousand 
square  feet  or  part  thereof  in  excess  of  five  thousand  square  feet. 
In  every  building  over  one  hundred  feet  in  height  there  shall  be 
at  least  one  exterior  enclosed  fireproof  stairway  which  shall  be 
accessible  from  any  point  in  the  building. 

3.  Stairways.     All  stairways  shall  be  constructed  of  incom- 
bustible material  and  shall  have  an  unobstructed  width  of  at  least 
forty-four  inches  throughout  their  length,  except  that  hand  rails 
may  project  not  more  than  three  and  one-half  inches  into  such 
width.     There  shall  be  not  more  than  twelve  feet  six  inches  in 
height  between  successive  landings.     The  treads  shall  be  not  less 
than  ten  inches  wide  exclusive  of  nosing,  and  the  rise  shall  be 
not  more  than  seven  and  three-fourths  inches.     Xo  stairway  with 
"  winders "   shall  be   allowed   except   as  a  connection  from   one 
floor  to  another.     The  treads  shall  be  constructed  and  maintained 
in  such  manner  as  to   prevent   persons   from   slipping  thereon. 
Every  stairway  shall  be  enclosed  on  all  sides  by  fireproof  parti- 
tions extending  continuously  from  the  lowest  story  to  which  such 
stairway  extends  to  three  feet  above  the  roof  and  the  roof  of 
the  enclosure  shall  be  constructed  of  fireproof  material  at  least 
four  inches  thick  with  a  skylight  at  least  three-fourths  the  area 
of  the  shaft.     All  stairways  serving  as  required  means  of  exit 
shall  extend  to  the  roof  and  shall  lead  continuously  to  the  street 
or  to  a  fireproof  passageway  independent  of  other  means  of  exit 
from  the  building,  opening  on  a  road  or  street,  or  to  an  open 
area  affording  unobstructed  passage  to  a  road  or  street.    All  stair- 
ways that  extend  to  the  top  story  shall  be  continued  to  the  roof. 
Provision  shall  be  made  for  the  adequate  lighting  of  all  stairways 
by  artificial  light. 

4.  Doors  and  doorways.     All  door.s  shall  open  outwardly.     The 
width  of  the  hallways  and  exit  doors  leading  to  the  street,  at  the 
street-level,  shall  be  not  less  than  the  aggregate  width  of  all  stair- 
ways leading  to  them.     Every  door  leading  to  or  opening  on  a 
stairway  shall  have  an  unobstructed  width  of  at  least  forty-four 
inches. 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      329 

5.  Partitions.     All  partitions  in  the  interior  of  buildings  of 
fireproof  construction  shall  be  of  incombustible  material. 

6.  Openings   to  be  enclosed.     All  elevator  and  dumb-waiter 
shafts,  vent  and  light  shafts,  pipe  and  duct  shafts,  hoistways  and 
all  other  vertical  openings  leading  from  one  floor  to  another  shall 
be  enclosed  throughout  their  height  on  all  sides  by  enclosures  of 
fireproof  material.     Every  such  enclosure  shall  have  a  roof  of 
fireproof  material  and  if  the  enclosure  extends  to  the  top  story  it 
shall  be  continued  to  three  feet  above  the  roof  of  the  building  and 
shall  have  at  the  top  of  a  skylight  in  a  metal  frame  at  least  three- 
fourths  of  the  area  of  the  shaft  or  exterior  window  with  metal 
frame  and  sash.    The  bottom  of  the  enclosure  shall  be  of  fireproof 
material  unless  the  opening  extends  to  the  cellar  bottom.    All  open- 
ings in  such  enclosures  shall  be  provided  with  fireproof  doors 
except  that  openings  in  the  enclosures  of  vent  and  light  shafts 
shall  be  provided  either  with  fireproof  doors  or  with  windows 
having  metal  frames  and  sash  and  wired  glass  where  glass  is  used. 

§  79-b.  Requirements  for  existing  buildings.  No  factory  shall 
be  conducted  in  any  building  heretofore  erected  unless  such  build- 
ing shall  conform  to  the  following  requirements: 

1.  Required  exits.  Every  building  over  two  stories  in  height 
shall  be  provided  on  each  floor  with  at  least  two  means  of  exit  or 
escape  from  fire,  remote  from  each  other,  one  of  which  on  every 
floor  above  the  ground  floor  shall  lead  to  or  open  on  an  interior 
stairway  which  in  buildings  over  four  stories  in  height  shall  be 
enclosed  as  hereinafter  provided,  or  to  an  exterior  enclosed  fire- 
proof stairway.  The  other  shall  lead  to  such  a  stairway;  or  to  a 
horizontal  exit;  or  to  an  exterior  screened  stairway;  or  when,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  industrial  board  the  safety  of  the  occupants  of 
the  building  would  not  be  endangered  thereby,  to  fire-escapes  on 
the  outside  of  the  building.  Xo  point  on  any  floor  of  such  factory 
shall  be  more  than  one  hundred  feet  distant  from  the  entrance  to 
one  such  means  of  exit.  "Whenever  egress  may  be  had  from  the 
roof  to  an  adjoining  or  near-by  structure,  every  stairway  serving 
as  a  required  means  of  exit  shall  be  extended  to  the  roof.  All  such 
stairways  shall  extend  to  the  first  story  and  lead  to  the  street,  or 
to  an  unobstructed  passageway  leading  to  a  street  or  road  or  to  an 
open  area  affording  safe  passage  to  a  street  or  road. 


330      APPENDIX  I -- BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

2.    Stairway  enclosures.     All  interior  stairways  serving  as  re- 
quired means  of  exit  in  buildings  more  than  four  stories  in  height 
and  the  landings,  platforms  and  passageways  connected  therewith 
shall   be    enclosed   on   all    sides   by   partitions    of   fire   resisting 
material  extending  continuously  from  the  basement.     Where  the 
stairway  extends  to  the  top  floor  of  the  building  such  partitions 
shall  extend  to  three  feet  above  the  roof.     All  openings  in  such 
partitions  shall  be  provided  with  self  closing  doors  constructed  of 
fire  resisting  material  except  where  such  openings  are  in  the  ex- 
terior wall  of  the  building.     All  such  partitions  and  the  doors 
provided  for  the  openings  therein  shall  be  constructed  in  such 
manner  as  the  industrial  board  may  prescribe  by  its  rules  and 
regulations.     Whenever,  in  the  case  of  any  existing  buildings  not 
over  six  stories  in  height,  the  industrial  board  shall  find  that  the 
requirements  of  this  and  the  last  preceding  subdivision  relating 
to  stairway  enclosures  can  be  dispensed  with  or  modified  without 
endangering  the  safety  of  persons  employed  in  such  buildings,  the 
industrial  board  shall  have  power  to  adopt  such  rules  and  regu- 
lations as  may,  in  its  opinion,  meet  the  conditions  existing  in 
such  buildings,  which  rules  and  regulations  may  make  said  re- 
quirements inapplicable  or  modify  the  same  in  such  manner  as 
it  may  find  to  be  adapted  to  securing  the  safety  of  persons  em- 
ployed therein. 

The  industrial  board  shall  have  power  to  adopt  rules  and  regu- 
lations, permitting,  under  conditions  therein  prescribed,  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  the  stairway  enclosures  herein  required  the  use  of 
partitions  heretofore  constructed  in  such  manner  and  of  such  fire 
resisting  material  as  have  heretofore  been  approved  by  the  local 
authorities  exercising  supervision  over  the  construction  and  altera- 
tion of  buildings.  In  such  cases,  however,  every  opening  in  the 
enclosing  partitions  shall  be  provided  with  fire  doors. 

3.  Doors.    Where  five  or  more  persons  are  employed  on  any 
floor  of  a  factory  building  every  door  on  such  floor  leading  to  or 
opening  on  any  means  of  exit  shall  open  outwardly  or  be  double 
swinging  doors.     All  exit  doors  in  the  first  story,  including  the 
doors  of  the  vestibule,  shall  open  outwardly. 

4.  Fire-escapes.     All  outside  fire-escapes  shall  be  constructed 
of  wrought  iron  or  steel  and  shall  be  so  designed,  constructed  and 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATIVE.      331 

erected  as  to  safely  sustain  on  all  platforms,  balconies  and  stair- 
ways a  live  load  of  not  less  than  ninety  pounds  per  square  foot 
with  a  factor  of  safety  of  four.  Wherever  practicable,  a  continu- 
ous run  or  straight  run  stairway  shall  be  used.  On  every  floor 
above  the  first  there  shall  be  balconies  or  landings  embracing  one 
or  more  easily  accessible  and  unobstructed  openings  at  each  floor 
level,  connected  with  each  other  and  with  the  ground  by  means  of 
a  stairway  constructed  as  hereinafter  provided  and  well  fastened 
and  secured.  All  openings  leading  to  outside  fire-escapes  shall 
have  an  unobstructed  width  of  at  least  two  feet  and 
an  unobstructed  height  of  at  least  six  feet  and  shall  extend 
to  the  floor  level  or  within  six  inches  thereof,  and  shall  be  not 
more  than  seven  inches  above  the  floor  of  the  fire-escape  balcony. 
Such  openings  shall  have  metal  frames  and  be  provided  with 
doors  constructed  of  fireproof  material  with  wired  glass  where 
glass  is  used.  All  windows  opening  upon  the  course  of  the  fire- 
escape  shall  be  fireproof  windows.  The  balconies  shall  have  an 
unobstructed  width  of  at  least  four  feet  throughout  their  length 
and  shall  have  a  landing  not  less  than  twenty-four  inches  square 
at  the  head  of  every  stairway.  There  shall  be  a  passageway  be- 
tween the  stairway  opening  and  the  side  of  the  building  at  least 
eighteen  inches  wide  throughout  except  where  the  stairways  reach 
and  leave  the  balconies  at  the  ends  or  where  double  run  stair- 
ways are  used.  The  stairway  opening  of  the  balconies  shall  be 
of  a  size  sufficient  to  provide  clear  headway  and  shall  be  guarded 
on  the  long  side  by  an  iron  railing  not  less  than  three  feet  in 
height.  Each  balcony  shall  be  surrounded  by  an  iron  railing  not 
less  than  three  feet  in  height  thoroughly  and  properly  braced. 
The  balconies  shall  be  connected  by  stairways  not  less  than 
twenty-two  inches  wide  placed  at  an  incline  of  not  more  than 
forty-five  degrees,  with  steps  of  not  less  than  eight-inch  tread  and 
not  over  eight-inch  rise  and  provided  with  a  hand-rail  not  less  than 
three  feet  in  height.  The  treads  of  such  stairways  shall  be  so 
constructed  as  to  sustain  a  live  load  of  four  hundred  pounds  per 
step  with  a  factor  of  safety  of  four.  There  shall  be  a  similar 
stairway  from  the  top  floor  balcony  to  the  roof,  except  where  the 
fire-escape  is  erected  on  the  front  of  the  building.  A  similar 
stairway  shall  also  be  provided  from  the  lowest  balcony  to  a  safe 
landing  place  beneath,  which  stairway  shall  remain  down  perma- 


332      APPENDIX  I -- BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

nentlv  or  be  arranged  to  swing  up  and  down  automatically  by 
counterbalancing  weights.  When  not  erected  on  the  front  of  the 
building,  safe  and  unobstructed  egress  shall  be  provided  from  the 
foot  of  the  fire-escape  by  means  of  an  open  court  or  courts  or  a 
fireproof  passageway  having  an  unobstructed  width  of  at  least 
three  feet  throughout  leading  to  the  street,  or  by  means  of  an 
open  area  having  communication  with  the  street;  such  fireproof 
passageway  shall  be  adequately  lighted  at  all  times  and  the  lights 
shall  be  so  arranged  as  to  ensure  their  reliable  operation  when 
through  accident  or  other  cause  the  regular  factory  lighting  is 
extinguished. 

5.  The  provisions  of  subdivision  four  shall  not  apply  where  at 
the  time  this  act  takes  effect  there  are  outside  fire-escapes  with 
balconies  on  each  floor  of  the  building  connected  with  stairways 
placed  at  an  angle  of  not  more  than  sixty  degrees,  provided  that 
such  existing  outside  fire-escapes  have  or  shall  be  provided  with 
the  following: 

A  stairway  leading  from  the  top  floor  balcony  to  the  roof,  except 
where  the  fire-escapes  are  erected  on  the  front  of  the  building ;  a 
stairway  not  less  than  twenty-two  inches  wide  from  the  lowest 
balcony  to  a  safe  landing  place  beneath,  which  stairway  remains 
down  permanently  or  is  arranged  to  swing  up  and  down  by 
counter-balancing  weights;  a  safe  and  unobstructed  exit  to  the 
street  from  the  foot  of  such  fire  escapes  as  provided  in  subdivi- 
sion four  hereof ;  steps  connecting  the  sill  of  every  opening  lead- 
ing to  the  fire-escapes  with  the  floor  wherever  such  sill  is  more 
than  three  feet  above  the  floor  level ;  and  all  openings  leading  to 
the  fire  escapes  provided  with  windows  having  metal  frames  and 
sash  and  with  wired  glass  where  glass  is  used,  or  with  doors  con- 
structed in  accordance  with  the  requirements  of  subdivision  four ; 
and  all  windows  opening  upon  the  course  of  the  fire-escape  pro- 
vided with  fireproof  windows. 

§  79-c.  Additional  requirements  common  to  buildings  hereto- 
fore and  hereafter  erected.  Jfo  factory  shall  be  conducted  in  any 
building  unless  such  building  shall  be  so  constructed,  equipped 
and  maintained  in  all  respects  as  to  afford  adequate  protection 
against  fire  to  all  persons  employed  therein,  nor  unless,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  requirements  of  section  seventy-nine-a  in  the  case  of  a 
building  hereafter  erected  or  of  section  seventy-nine-b  in  the  case 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      333 

of  a  building  heretofore  erected,  such  building  shall  conform  to 
the  following  requirements : 

1.  Stairways.  Stairways  shall  be  provided  with  proper  and 
substantial  hand-rails.  Where  the  stairway  is  enclosed  by  fire- 
proof partitions  the  bottom  of  the  enclosure  shall  be  of  fireproof 
material  at  least  four  inches  thick  unless  the  fireproof  partitions 
extend  to  the  cellar  bottom.  All  stairways  that  extend  to  the 
top  story  shall  be  continued  to  the  roof. 

'2.  Doors  and  windows.  No  doors,  window  or  other  opening  on 
any  floor  of  a  factory  building  shall  be  obstructed  by  stationary 
metal  bars,  grating  or  wire  mesh.  Metal  bars,  grating  or  wire 
mesh  provided  for  any  such  door,  window  or  other  opening  shall 
be  so  constructed  as  to  be  readily  movable  or  removable  from  both 
sides  in  such  manner  as  to  afford  the  free  and  unobstructed  use  of 
such  door,  window  or  other  opening  as  a  means  of  egress  in  case  of 
need  and  they  shall  be  left  unlocked  during  working  hours.  Every 
door  opening  on  a  stairway  or  other  means  of  exit  shall  so  open  as 
not  to  obstruct  the  passageway.  A  clearly  painted  sign  marked 
"  exit "  in  letters  not  less  than  eight  inches  in  height  shall  be 
placed  over  all  exits  leading  to  stairways  and  other  means  of 
egress,  and  in  addition  a  red  light  shall  be  placed  over  all  such 
exits  for  use  in  time  of  darkness. 

3.  Access  to  exits.     There  shall  at  all  times  be  maintained  con- 
tinuous, safe,  unobstructed  passageways  on  each  floor  of  the  build- 
ing, with  an  unobstructed  width  of  at  least  three  feet  throughout 
their  length  leading  directly  to  every  means  of  egress,  including 
outside  fire-escapes  and  passenger  elevators.     All  means  of  egress 
shall  be  maintained  in  an  unobstructed  condition.     No  door  lead- 
ing into  or  out  of  any  factory  or  any  floor  thereof  shall  be  locked, 
bolted  or  fastened  during  working  hours. 

4.  Regulation  by  industrial  board.     The  industrial  board  shall 
have  power  to  adopt  rules  and  regulations  and  establish  require- 
ments and  standards  for  construction,  equipment  and  maintenance 
of  factory  buildings  or  of  particular  classes  of  factory  buildings 
and  the  means  and  adequacy  of  exit  therefrom  in  order  to  carry 
out  the  purposes  of  this  chapter  in  addition  to  the  requirements 
of  this  section  and  of  sections  seventy-nine-a  and  seventy-nine-b, 
and  not  inconsistent  therewith. 


334     APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATUKE. 

§  79-d.  Effect  of  foregoing  provisions;  inspection  of  buildings 
and  approval  of  plans.  1.  Effect  of  foregoing  provisions.  The 
requirements  of  sections  seventy-nine-a,  seventy-nine-b  and 
seventy-nine-c  are  not  in  substitution  for  the  requirements  of  any 
general  or  special  law  or  local  ordinance  relating  to  the  construc- 
tion, equipment  or  maintenance  of  buildings,  but  the  provisions 
of  such  general  and  special  laws  and  local  ordinances  shall  be 
observed  as  well  as  the  provisions  of  said  sections.  The  pro- 
visions of  sections  seventy-nine-a,  seventy-nine-b  and  seventy- 
nine-c  shall  supersede  all  provisions  inconsistent  therewith  in  any 
special  law  or  local  ordinance,  and  any  provision  of  law  or 
ordinance  which  gives  power  to  any  officer  to  establish  require- 
ments inconsistent  with  the  provisions  of  such  sections  or  the 
rules  and  regulations  adopted  by  the  industrial  board  under  the 
provisions  of  this  article. 

2.  Inspection  of  buildings.     The  officer  of  any  city,  village  or 
town  having  power  to  inspect  buildings  therein  for  the  purpose  of 
determining  their  conformity  to  the  requirements  of  law  or  ordi- 
nance governing  the  construction  thereof,  shall,  whenever  requested 
by  the  commissioner  of  labor,  inspect  any  factory  building  therein 
and  certify  to  the  commissioner  of  labor  in  detail  whether  or  not 
such  building  conforms  to  the  requirements  of  this  chapter  and 
the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  industrial  board,  and  such  cer- 
tificate shall  be  filed  in  the  office  of  the  commissioner  of  labor  and 
shall  be  presumptive  evidence  of  the  truth  of  the  matters  therein 
stated. 

3.  Approval  of  plans.     Before  construction  or  alteration  of  a 
building  in  which  it  is  intended  to  conduct  one  or  more  factories, 
the  plans  and  specifications  for  such  construction  or  alteration 
may  be  submitted  to  the  commissioner  of  labor  and  filed  in  his 
office  in  such  form  and  with  such  information  as  may  be  required 
by  him  or  by  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  industrial  board, 
and  if  such  plans  and  specifications  comply  with  the  requirements 
of  this  chapter  and  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  industrial 
board,  he  shall  issue  his  certificate  approving  the  same,  which 
certificate  shall  bear  the  date  when  issued.     Whenever  any  cer- 
tificate shall  be  issued  by  the  commissioner  of  labor  under  this 
section  the  particulars  of  such  certificate  shall  be  recorded  and 
indexed  in  the  records  of  his  office.    Before  issuing  any  such  cer- 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      335 

tificate  the  commissioner  of  labor  may  request  the  officer  of  the 
city,  village  or  town  in  which  such  building  is  located  having 
power  to  examine  and  pass  upon  plans  for  construction  of  build- 
ings with  reference  to  their  conformity  to  the  requirements  of 
law  or  ordinance  governing  the  construction  thereof,  to  examine 
such  plans  and  specifications  and  to  certify  to  the  commissioner  of 
labor  whether  or  not  such  plans  and  specifications  conform  to  the 
requirements  of  this  chapter  and  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the 
industrial  board,  and  such  officer  shall  thereupon  make  such 
examination  and  so  certify  in  detail  to  the  commissioner  of  labor 
and  such  certificate  shall  be  filed  in  the  office  of  the  commissioner 
of  labor  and  shall  be  presumptive  evidence  of  the  truth  of  the 
matters  therein  stated. 

4.  Certificate  of  compliance.  After  such  construction  or 
alteration  shall  be  completed,  the  commissioner  of  labor  shall, 
when  requested  by  the  owner  or  person  filing  such  plans,  ascertain 
by  inspection  or  in  the  manner  provided  in  subdivision  two  of 
this  section,  whether  such  building  conforms  to  the  requirements 
of  this  chapter  and  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  industrial 
board;  and  if  he  finds  that  it  does  conform  thereto,  shall  issue 
his  certificate  to  that  effect,  which  shall  bear  the  date  when  issued. 

§  79-e.  Limitation  of  number  of  occupants.  The  number  of 
persons  who  may  occupy  any  factory  building  or  portion  thereof 
above  the  ground  floor  shall  be  limited  to  such  a  number  as  can 
safely  escape  from  such  building  by  the  means  of  exit  provided 
in  the  building. 

1.  In  buildings  hereafter  erected  no  more  than  fourteen  persons 
shall  be  employed  or  permitted  or  suffered  to  work  on  any  one 
floor  for  every  full  twenty-two  inches  in  width  of  stairway  con- 
forming to  the  requirements  for  a  required  means  of  exit  except 
as  to  extension  to  the  roof,  provided  for  such  floor.    ~No  allowance 
shall  be  made  for  any  excess  in  width  of  less  than  twenty-two 
inches. 

2.  In    buildings    heretofore    erected    no    more    than    fourteen 
persons  shall  be  employed  or  permitted  or  suffered  to  work  on 
any  one  floor  for  every  eighteen  inches  in  width  of  stairway  pro- 
vided for  such  floor  and  conforming  to  the  requirements  for  a 
required  means  of  exit  except  as  to  extension  to  the  roof,  and  for 
any  excess  in  width  of  less  than  eighteen  inches,  a  proportionate 


336      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

increase  in  the  number  of  occupants  shall  be  allowed.  Where  the 
industrial  board  shall  find  that  the  safety  of  the  occupants  of  any 
such  building  will  not  be  endangered  thereby,  it  may  allow  an 
increase  in  the  number  of  occupants  of  any  floor  in  such  building 
to  a  number  not  greater  than  at  the  rate  of  twenty  persons  for 
every  eighteen  inches  in  width  of  such  stairway  provided  for 
such  floor,  with  a  proportionate  increase  in  the  number  of  occu- 
pants for  any  excess  in  width  of  less  than  eighteen  inches. 

3.  In  any  building  for  every  additional  sixteen  inches  over  ten 
feet  in  height  between  two  floors,  one  'additional  person  may  be 
employed  on  the  upper  of  such  floors  for  every  eighteen  inches  in 
width  of  stairway  leading  therefrom  to  the  lower  of  such  floors 
in  buildings  heretofore  erected,   and  one  for   every  twenty-two 
inches  in  width  of  such  stairway  in  buildings  hereafter  erected, 
provided  that  such  stairways  conform  to  the  requirements   for 
required  means  of  exit  as  to  extension  to  the  roof. 

4.  In  any  building,  if  any  stairway  has  steps  of  the  type  known 
as  "  winders,"  a  deduction  of  ten  per  centum  shall  be  made  in 
counting  the  capacity  of  such  stairway. 

5.  In  any  building  where  the  stairways  and  stairhalls  are  en- 
closed in  fireproof  partitions  or  where,  at  the  time  this  act  takes 
effect,  the  stairways  and  stairhalls  are  enclosed  in  partitions  of 
brick,    concrete,    terra-cotta  blocks    or    reinforced    concrete    con- 
structed in  a  manner  heretofore  approved  by  the  superintendent 
of  buildings  of  the  city  of  New  York  having  jurisdiction  if  in 
such  city,  or  elsewhere  in  the  state,  in  a  manner  conforming  to 
the  rules  and  regulations  to  be  adopted  by  the  industrial  board 
under  the  provisions  of  subdivision  two  of  section  seventy-nine-b, 
all  openings  in  which  enclosing  partitions  are  or  shall  hereafter 
be  provided  with  fireproof  doors,  in  either  of  such  cases  so  many 
additional  persons  may  be  employed  on  any  floor  as  can  occupy 
the  enclosed  stairhall  or  halls  on  that  floor,  allowing  five  square 
feet  of  unobstructed  floor  space  per  person. 

6.  In  any  building  where  a  horizontal  exit  is  provided  on  any 
floor  such  number  of  persons  may  be  employed  on  such  floor  as 
can  occupy  the  smaller  of  the  two  spaces  on  such  floor  on  either 
side  of  the  fireproof  partitions  or  fire  walls,  or  as  can  occupy  the 
floor  of  an  adjoining  or  near-by  building  which  is  connected  with 
such  floor  by  openings  in  the  wall  or  walls  between  the  buildings 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      337 

or  by  exterior  balconies  or  bridges,  in  addition  to  the  occupants 
of  such  connected  floor  in  such  adjoining  or  near-by  building, 
allowing  five  square  feet  of  unobstructed  floor  space  per  person, 
provided  that  the  partitions  or  walls  or  balconies  through  which 
the  horizontal  exit  is  provided  to  such  other  portion  of  the  same 
building  or  to  such  adjoining  or  near-by  building  shall  have  door- 
ways of  sufficient  width  to  allow  eighteen  inches  in  width  of  open- 
ing for  each  fifty  persons  or  fraction  thereof  so  permitted  to  be 
employed  on  such  floor  in  the  case  of  horizontal  exits  heretofore 
constructed  and  twenty-two  inches  in  the  case  of  horizontal  exits 
hereafter  constructed. 

7.  In  any  building  heretofore  erected  of  fireproof  construction, 
where  any  floor  is  subdivided  by  partitions  of  brick,  terra  cotta  or 
concrete  not  less  than  four  inches  thick  extending  continuously 
from  the  fireproofing  of  the  floor  to  the  underside  of  the  fireproof- 
ing  of  the  floor  above  with  all  openings  protected  by  fireproof  doors 
not  less  than  forty-four  inches  nor  more  than  sixty-six  inches  in 
width,  and  in  which  all  the  windows  on  such  floor  and  on  the 
two  floors  directly  underneath  are  fireproof  windows,  such  number 
of  persons  may  be  employed  on  such  floor  as  can  occupy  the 
smaller  of  the  two  spaces  on  either  side  of  such  partitions,  allowing 
five  square  feet  of  unobstructed  floor  space  per  person,  provided 
there  shall  be  on  each  side  of  said  partitions  at  least  one  stairway 
conforming  to  the  requirements  for  a  required  means  of  exit ;  and 
provided  further  that  such  partitions  have  doorways  of  sufficient 
width  to   allow  eighteen  inches   in  width  of  openings   for  each 
fifty  persons  or  fraction  thereof  so  permitted  to  occupy  such  floor, 
and  that  such  doorways  shall  be  kept  unlocked  and  unobstructed 
during  working  hours.     The  provisions  of  this  subdivision  shall 
apply  to   any  fireproof  building  heretofore  erected  which  may 
hereafter  be  made  to  conform  to  the  requirements  of  this  section. 

8.  In  any  building  the  number  of  persons  permitted  to  be  em- 
ployed on  any  one  floor  under  the  provisions  of  subdivision  one, 
two  and  three  of  this  section  may  be  increased  fifty  per  centum 
where  there  is  constructed,  installed  and  maintained  throughout 
the  building  an  automatic   sprinkler   system  conforming   to  the 
requirements  of  section  eighty-three-b  of  this  chapter  and  to  the 
rules  and  regulations  of  the  industrial  board. 

22 


338      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

9.  In  any  building,  the  number  of  persons  who  may  be  em- 
ployed in  any  one  floor  shall  in  no  event  exceed  such  number  as 
can  occupy  such  floor,  allowing  thirty-six  square  feet  of  floor  space 
per  person  if  the  building  is  not  of  fireproof  construction,  and 
thirty-two  square  feet  of  floor  space  per  person  if  the  building  is 
of  fireproof  construction. 

10.  Where  one  floor  is  occupied  by  more  than  one  tenant,  the 
industrial  board  shall  have  power  to  make  rules  and  regulations 
prescribing  how  many  of  the  persons  allowed  to   occupy  such 
floor  under  the  provisions  of  this  section,  may  occupy  the  space 
of  each  tenant. 

11.  Posting.     In  every  factory,  two  stories  or  over  in  height, 
the  commissioner  of  labor  shall  cause  to  be  posted  notices  specify- 
ing the  number  of  persons  that  may  occupy  each  floor  thereof  in 
accordance  with  the  provisions  of  this  section.     Every  such  notice 
shall  be  posted  in  a  conspicuous  place  in  every  stairhall  and  work- 
room.   If  any  one  floor  is  occupied  by  more  than  one  tenant,  such 
nntices  shall  be  posted   in  the  space   occupied  by  each  tenant, 
s  nd  shall  state  the  number  of  persons  that  may  occupy  such  space. 
]  >very  such  notice  shall  bear  the  date  when  posted. 

§  79-f.  Meaning  of  terms.  The  following  terms  when  used  in 
this  article  shall  have  the  following  meaning: 

1.  Fireproof  construction.  A  building  shall  be  deemed  to  be 
of  fireproof  construction  if  it  conforms  to  the  following  require- 
ments: All  walls  constructed  of  brick,  stone,  concrete  or  terra- 
cotta; all  floors  and  roofs  of  brick,  terra-cotta  or  reinforced  con- 
crete placed  between  steel  or  reinforced  concrete  beams  and  gir- 
ders ;  all  the  steel  entering  into  the  structural  parts  encased  in  at 
least  two  inches  of  fireproof  material,  excepting  the  wall  columns, 
which  must  be  encased  in  at  least  eight  inches  of  masonry  on  the 
outside  and  four  inches  on  the  inside ;  all  stairwells,  elevator  wells, 
public  hallways  and  corridors  enclosed  by  fireproof  partitions ;  all 
doors,  fireproof;  all  stairways,  landings,  hallways  and  other  floor 
surfaces  of  incombustible  material ;  no  woodwork  or  other  combus- 
tible material  used  in  any  partition,  furring,  ceiling  or  floor ;  and 
all  window  frames,  doors  and  sash,  trim  and  other  interior  finish 
of  incombustible  material ;  all  windows  shall  be  fireproof  windows 
except  that  in  buildings  under  seventy  feet  in  height  fireproof  win- 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      339 

dows  are  required  only  when  within  thirty  feet  of  another  build- 
ing or  opening  on  a  court  or  space  less  than  thirty  feet  wide ;  ex- 
cept that  in  buildings  under  one  hundred  feet  in  height  there  may 
be  wooden  sleepers  and  floor  finish  and  wooden  trim,  and  except 
that  in  buildings  under  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  height  here- 
tofore constructed  there  may  be  wooden  sleepers,  floor  finish  and 
trim  and  the  windows  need  not  be  fireproof  windows,  excepting 
when  such  windows  are  within  thirty  feet  of  another  building. 

2.  Fireproof  material  is  material  which  is  incombustible  and 
is  capable  of  resisting  the  effect  of  fire  in  such  manner  and  to 
such  extent  as  to  insure  the  safety  of  the  occupants  of  the  build- 
ing.    The  industrial  board  shall  determine  and  in  its  rules  and 
regulations  shall  specify  what  materials  are  fireproof  materials 
within   the   meaning    hereof.     The   industrial   board    shall    also 
determine  and  in  its  rules  and  regulations  shall  specify  what  ma- 
terials not  being  fireproof  materials,  within  the  meaning  hereof, 
are  fire  resisting  materials.       Fire  resisting  material,  when  re- 
quired by  any  of  the  provisions  of  this  chapter,  shall  conform  to 
the  requirements  of  such  rules  and  regulations. 

3.  Incombustible  material  is  material  which  will  not  burn  or 
support  combustion. 

4.  A  fire  wall  is  a  wall  constructed  of  brick,  concrete,  terra- 
cotta  blocks   or   reinforced   stone  concrete,   and  having  at   each 
floor  level  one  or  more  openings  each  protected  by  fire  doors  so 
constructed  as  to  prevent  the  spread  of  fire  or  smoke  through  the 
openings.      In  buildings  of  nonfireproof  construction  fire  walls 
shall  be  at  least  twelve  inches  in  thickness  and  shall  extend  con- 
tinuously from  the  cellar  floor  through  the  entire  building  and  at 
least  three  feet  over  the  roof  and  be  coped ;  except  that  walls  here- 
tofore erected  not  less  than  eight  inches  in  thickness,  but  other- 
wise conforming  to  the  requirements  of  this  subdivision  shall  be 
considered  fire  walls  within  the  meaning  of  this  subdivision.     No 
opening  in  such  wall  shall  exceed  sixty-six  inches  in  width  or  sixty 
square  feet  in  area,  except  that  where  openings  not  exceeding  eight 
feet  in  width  exist  in  fire  walls  heretofore  erected,  such  walls  may 
be  considered  fire  walls  within  the  meaning  of  this  subdivision, 
and  in  the  case  of  fire  walls  hereafter  constructed  no  two  openings 
in  the  same  wall  and  at  the  same  floor  level  shall  be  nearer  than 
forty  feet  from  the  center  of  one  opening  to  the  center  of  another. 


340      APPEXDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

Every  opening  in  a  fire  wall  shall  be  protected  by  a  fire  door  clos- 
ing automatically  on  each  side  of  the  wall.  At  every  opening  in 
the  fire  wall  there  shall  be  an  incombustible  floor  finish  extending 
over  the  floor  for  the  full  thickness  of  the  wall  so  as  to  completely 
separate  the  woodwork  of  the  floors  on  each  side  of  the  fire  wall. 
In  fireproof  buildings  the  fire  walls  shall  comply  with  the  fore- 
going requirements  in  all  respects  excepting  that  they  may  be  of 
the  thickness  required  by  the  provisions  of  this  section  with  re- 
spect to  fireproof  partitions;  such  fire  walls  and  fireproof  parti- 
tions shall  be  continuous,  from  the  cellar  floor  to  the  under  side  of 
the  fireproof  roof. 

5.  Fireproof  partitions  shall  be  built  of  brick,  concrete,  rein- 
forced concrete  or   terra  cotta  blocks.     When  built  of  brick  or 
concrete  they  shall  be  not  less  than  eight  inches  in  thickness  for 
the  uppermost  forty  feet,  and  shall  increase  four  inches  in  thick- 
ness for  each  additional  lower  forty  feet  or  part  thereof ;  or,  when 
wholly  supported  by  suitable  steel  framing  at  vertical  intervals 
of  not   over  forty  feet,   they  may  be  eight   inches  in  thickness 
throughout  their  entire  height.     When  wholly  supported  at  ver- 
tical intervals  of  not  over  twenty-five  feet,  and  built  of  terra  cotta 
blocks,  they  shall  be  not  less  than  six  inches  in  thickness  and 
when  so  supported  and  built  of  reinforced  stone  concrete,  they 
shall  be  not  less  than  four  inches  in  thickness.     The  supporting 
steel  framework  shall  be  properly  encased  on  all  sides  by  not  less 
than  two  inches  of  fireproof  material,  securely  fastened  to  the  steel 
work.     All  openings  in  such  partitions  shall  be  provided    with 
fire  doors. 

6.  Fire   doors.     Fire   doors  shall   be  metal-covered   doors,   or 
doors  of  such  other  material  as  shall  be  specified  in  the  rules  and 
regulations  of  the  industrial  board.     They  shall  be  provided  with 
self-closing  devices  and  have  incombustible  sills.     The  industrial 
board  shall   determine,   and   in   its   rules   and   regulations   shall 
specify,  the  material  and  mode  and  manner  of  construction  and 
erection  of  such  doors. 

7.  Fireproof  windows  shall  be  windows  constructed  of  metal 
frames  and  sash  and  provided  with  wired  glass  and  of  the  auto- 
matic, self-closing  type. 

8.  Exterior    enclosed   fireproof   stairways    shall    be    stairways 
completely  enclosed  from   top   to   bottom  by  walls  of  fireproof 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATIVE.      341 

material  not  less  than  eight  inches  thick  extending  from  the  side- 
walk, court  or  yard  level  to  the  roof,  and  with  walls  extending 
above  the  roof  so  as  to  form  a  bulkhead.  The  stairway  shall  in 
all  other  respects  conform  to  the  requirements  of  this  article  in 
regard  to  enclosed  stairways.  There  shall  be  no  opening  in  any 
wall  separating  the  exterior  enclosed  fireproof  stairway  from  the 
building.  Access  shall  be  provided  to  the  stairway  from  every 
floor  of  the  building  by  means  of  an  outside  balcony  or  vestibule 
of  steel,  iron  or  masonry.  Every  such  balcony  or  vestibule  shall 
have  an  unobstructed  width  of  at  least  forty-four  inches  and  shall 
be  provided  with  a  fireproof  floor  and  a  railing  of  incombustible 
material  not  less  than  three  feet  high.  Access  to  such  balconies 
from  the  building  and  to  the  stairway  from  the  balconies,  shall 
be  by  means  of  fire  doors.  The  level  of  the  balcony  floor  shall  be 
not  more  than  seven  inches  below  the  level  of  the  door  sill  of  the 
building.  The  doors  shall  be  not  less  than  forty-four  inches  wide 
and  shall  swing  outward  onto  the  balcony  and  inward  from  the 
balcony  to  the  stairway,  and  shall  be  provided  with  locks  or  latches 
with  visible  fastenings  requiring  no  key  to  open  them  in  leaving 
the  building.  The  landings  in  such  stairway  shall  be  of  such 
width  that  the  doors  in  opening  into  the  stairway  shall  not  reduce 
the  free  passageway  of  the  landings  to  a  width  less  than  the  width 
of  the  stairs.  Every  such  stairway  shall  be  provided  with  a 
proper  lighting  system  which  shall  furnish  adequate  light  and 
shall  be  so  arranged  as  to  ensure  its  reliable  operation  when, 
through  accident  or  other  cause,  the  regular  factory  lighting  is 
extinguished.  The  balconies  giving  access  to  such  stairways  shall 
be  open  on  at  least  one  side  upon  an  open  space  not  less  than 
one  hundred  square  feet  in  area. 

9.  Horizontal  exit.  A  horizontal  exit  shall  be  the  connection 
by  means  of  one  or  more  openings  not  less  than  forty-four  inches 
wide,  protected  by  fire  doors,  through  a  fire  wall  in  any  building, 
or  through  a  wall  or  walls  between  two  buildings,  which  doors 
shall  continuously  be  unlocked  and  the  opening  unobstructed 
whenever  any  person  is  employed  on  either  side  of  the  opening. 
Exterior  balconies  and  bridges  not  less  than  forty-four  inches  in 
width  connecting  two  buildings  and  not  having  a  gradient  of 
more  than  one  foot  fall  in  six,  may  also  be  counted  as  horizontal 
exits  when  the  doors  opening  out  upon  said  balconies  or  bridges 


342      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

are  fireproof  doors  and  are  level  with  the  floors  of  the  building, 
and  when  all  doors  of  both  buildings  opening  on  such  balconies 
or  bridges  are  continuously  kept  unlocked  and  unobstructed  when- 
ever any  person  is  employed  on  either  side  of  the  exit,  and  when 
such  balconies  or  bridges  are  built  of  incombustible  material  and 
are  capable  of  sustaining  a  live  load  of  not  less  than  ninety 
pounds  per  square  foot  with  a  factor  of  safety  of  four ;  and  when 
such  balconies  or  bridges  are  enclosed  on  all  sides  to  a  height  of 
not  less  than  six  feet  and  on  top  and  bottom  by  fireproof  material, 
unless  all  windows  or  openings  within  thirty  feet  of  such  balconies 
in  the  connected  buildings  shall  be  encased  in  metal  frames  and 
sash  and  shall  have  wired  glass  where  glass  is  used.  In  any  case 
there  shall  be  on  each  side  of  the  wall  or  partition  containing  the 
horizontal  exit  and  independent  of  said  horizontal  exit,  at  least 
one  stairway  conforming  to  the  requirements  for  a  required  means 
of  exit 

10.  Exterior  screened  stairways  used  as  one  of  the  required 
means  of  exit  in  buildings  heretofore  erected  shall  be  built  of  in- 
combustible material.     The  risers  of  the  stairs  shall  be  not  more 
than  seven  and  three-quarters  inches  in  height  and  the  treads  not 
less  than  ten  inches  wide.     On  each  floor  there  shall  be  a  balcony 
connecting  with  the  stairs.     Access  to  the  balconies  shall  be  by 
means  of  fire  doors  that  shall  open  outwardly,  so  as  not  to  ob- 
struct the  passageway,  or  slide  freely,   and  shall  extend  to  the 
floor  level.     All  windows  or  other  openings  opening  upon  the 
course  of  such  stairs  shall  be  fireproof.     The  level  of  the  balcony 
floor  shall  not  be  more  than  seven  inches  below  the  level  of  the 
door  sill.     The  stairs  shall  continue  from  the  roof  to  the  ground 
level,  and  there  shall  be  independent  means  of  exit  from  the 
bottom  of  such  stairs  to  the  street  or  to  an  open  court  or  to  a  fire- 
proof enclosed  passageway  leading  to  the  street  or  to  an  open 
area  having  communication  with  the  street  or  road.    The  balconies 
and  stairs  shall  be  enclosed  in  a  screen  of  incombustible  material. 

11.  The  provisions  of  subdivisions  four  to  nine  inclusive  of  this 
section  shall  apply  to  all  buildings  hereafter  erected  and  to  all 
construction  hereafter  made  in  buildings  heretofore  erected.    The 
industrial  board  shall  adopt  rules  and  regulations  regulating  con- 
struction heretofore  made  in  buildings  heretofore  erected  requir- 
ing compliance  with  such  of  the  requirements  of  the  said  sub- 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      343 

divisions  or  with  such  other  or  different  requirements  as  said 
board  may  find  to  be  reasonable  and  adequate  to  protect  persons 
employed  in  such  buildings  against  fire. 

§  2.  Sections  eighty,  eighty-two  and  eighty-three  of  such  chap- 
ter are  hereby  repealed. 

§  3.  This  act  shall  take  effect  October  first,  nineteen  hundred 
and  thirteen,  except  that  section  seventy-nine-e  of  the  labor  law 
as  added  by  this  act  shall  take  effect  February  first,  nineteen 
hundred  and  fourteen. 


BILL  No.  7. 
AN  ACT 

To  AMEND  THE  GREATER  NEW  YORK  CHARTER,  IN  RELATION  TO 
THE  BETTER  PREVENTION  OF  FIRES. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Section  seven  hundred  and  seventy-four  of  the 
Greater  New  York  charter,  as  re-enacted  by  chapter  four  hundred 
and  sixty-six  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred  and  one  and  as 
added  by  chapter  eight  hundred  and  ninety-nine  of  the  laws  of 
nineteen  hundred  and  eleven,  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as 
follows : 

§  774.  The  commissioner  shall  enforce  all  laws  and  ordinances 
and  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  industrial  board  of  the  de- 
partment of  labor  in  respect  of 

1.  The  prevention  of  fires ; 

2.  The   storage,   sale,   transportation   or  use  of  combustibles, 
chemicals  and  explosives; 

3.  The  installation  and  maintenance  of  automatic  or  other  fire- 
alarm  systems  and  fire-extinguishing  equipment; 

4.  The  means  and  adequacy  of  exit,  in  case  of  fire,  from  all 
buildings,  structures,  enclosures,  vessels,  places  and  premises  in 
which  numbers  of  persons  work,  live,  or  congregate  from  time  to 
time  for  any  purpose  except  tenement-houses  and  except  factories 
as  defined  by  the  labor  law. 


344      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

5.  The  investigation  of  the  cause,  circumstances  and  origin  of 
fires  and  the  suppression  of  arson. 

§  2.  Subdivisions  two  and  three  of  section  seven  hundred  and 
seventy-five  of  such  chapter  are  hereby  amended  to  read  as 
follows : 

2.  Order,  in  writing,  the  remedying  of  any  condition  found  to 
exist  in,  on  or  about  any  building,  structure,  enclosure,  vessel, 
place  or  premises,  except  tenement-houses,  and  except  factories  as 
defined  by  the  labor  law,  in  violation  of  any  law  or  ordinance  in 
respect  to  fires  or  to  the  prevention  of  fires,  except  the  tenement- 
house  law; 

3.  Require,  in  writing,  the  installation,  as  prescribed  by  any 
law  or  ordinance  or  by  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  industrial 
board  of  the  department  of  labor,  in  any  building,  structure  or 
enclosure  of  automatic  or  other  fire-alarm  system  of  fire-extin- 
guishing equipment  and  the  maintenance  and  repair  thereof,  or 
the  construction,  as  prescribed  by  any  law  or  ordinance,  of  ade- 
quate and  safe  means  of  exit  from  all  buildings  and  structures 
except  tenement  houses  and  except  factories  as  defined  by  the 
labor  law; 

§  3.  Section  seven  hundred  and  seventy-seven  of  such  chapter 
is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows : 

§  777.  The  owner,  lessee  or  occupant  of  any  building,  struc- 
ture, vessel,  enclosure,  place  or  premises  affected  by  any  order  of 
the  department,  or  his  agent,  may  make  written  demand  upon  the 
commissioner  for  a  survey  of  such  building,  structure,  vessel,  en- 
closure, place  or  premises  to  determine  whether  or  not  such  order 
is  valid  and  reasonable,  which  demand  for  survey  must  be  served 
upon  the  commissioner  or  one  of  his  deputies,  or  a  member  of  the 
uniformed  force  of  the  department,  if  personal  service  cannot  be 
made  upon  the  commissioner  or  one  of  his  deputies,  within  forty- 
eight  hours,  Sundays  and  holidays  excluded,  after  the  service  of 
the  order  referred  to  in  such  demand.  A  demand  for  survey 
served  upon  a  deputy  commissioner  or  a  member  of  the  uniformed 
force  of  the  department  shall  be  forthwith  transmitted  to  the  com- 
missioner. Upon  receipt  of  a  demand  for  a  survey  the  commis- 
sioner shall  immediately  issue  an  order  for  the  same,  naming 
therein  three  persons  to  act  as  surveyors,  one  of  whom  shall  be  an 
officer  or  an  employee  of  the  bureau  of  fire  prevention  or  a  mem- 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      345 

her  of  the  municipal  explosives  commission;  another  shall  be  an 
architect  or  builder  of  at  least  ten  years'  experience,  nominated  by 
the  person  demanding  the  survey,,  and  the  third  a  person  to  be 
chosen  by  the  fire  commissioner  from  a  list  to  be  furnished  by  the 
[board  of  fire  underwriters J  New  York  Chapter  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Architects.,  if  the  premises  be  in  the  borough  of  Man- 
hattan, the  Bronx  or  Richmond,  or  by  the  Brooklyn  Chapter  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Architects.,  if  the  premises  be  in  the 
borough  of  Brooklyn  or  Queens,  or  by  the  New  York  Society  of 
Architects,  or  by  the  American  Institute  of  Consulting  Engineers, 
or  provided  by  the  commissioner,  with  the  approval  of  the  mayor, 
in  the  event  [of  the  board  of  fire  underwriters]  that  such  chapter 
or  such  society  or  institute  shall  not  furnish  such  a  list.  The 
date  and  hour  when  the  survey  shall  be  made  shall  be  stated  in 
the  order  therefor.  A  copy  of  such  order  shall  be  served  upon  the 
person  demanding  the  survey  at  least  twenty-four  hours  before  the 
hour  fixed  in  the  order  for  the  holding  of  such  survey  and  he  shall 
have  the  right  to  be  present  and  be  heard  at  the  same  in  person,  or 
by  agent  or  attorney;  provided  that  such  copy  of  an  order  of  sur- 
vey may  be  served  as  provided  generally  in  respect  of  service  of 
orders  of  the  department,  by  section  seven  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  of  this  act.  If  the  person  demanding  the  survey  neglects  or 
refuses  to  appoint  such  surveyor,  the  other  two  surveyors  may 
make  such  survey;  and  in  case  of  disagreement  of  the  latter  they 
may  appoint  a  third  person  to  take  part  in  such  survey  who  shall 
also  be  an  architect  or  builder  of  at  least  ten  years'  experience. 

§  4.  Section  seven  hundred  and  seventy-five-a  of  the  Greater  New 
York  charter,  as  added  by  chapter  four  hundred  and  fifty-eight  of 
the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred  and  twelve,  is  hereby  repealed. 

§  5.  This  act  shall  take  effect  October  first,  nineteen  hundred 
and  thirteen.  

BILL  No.  8. 

AN  ACT 

To  AMEXD  THE  LABOR  LAW,  ix  EELATION  TO  THE  EMPLOYMENT 
OF  CHILDREN  UNDER  FOURTEEN  YEARS  ix  OR  FOR  A  FAC- 
TORY, THE  DEFINITION  OF  A  FACTORY,  FACTORY  BUILDING 
AND  TENEMENT  HOUSE. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 


346      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATUEE. 

Section  1.  Section  two  of  chapter  thirty-six  of  the  laws  of 
nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  entitled  "An  act  relating  to  labor, 
constituting  chapter  thirty-one  of  the  consolidated  laws,"  is  hereby- 
amended  to  read  as  follows: 

§  2.  Definitions.  Employee.  The  term  "  employee,"  when 
used  in  this  chapter,  means  a  mechanic,  workingman  or  laborer 
who  works  for  another  for  hire. 

Employer.  The  term  "  employer,"  when  used  in  this  chapter, 
means  the  person  employing  any  such  mechanic,  workingman  or 
laborer,  whether  the  owner,  proprietor,  agent,  superintendent, 
foreman  or  other  subordinate. 

Factory;  work  for  a  factory.  The  term  "  factory,"  when  used 
in  this  chapter,  shall  be  construed  to  include  [also]  any  mill, 
workshop,  or  other  manufacturing  or  business  establishment  and 
all  buildings,  sheds,  structures  or  other  places  used  for  or  in  con- 
nection therewith,  where  one  or  more  persons  are  employed  at 
labor.  Work  shall  be  deemed  to  be  done  for  a  factory  within  the 
meaning  of  this  chapter  whenever  it  is  done  at  any  place,  upon 
the  work  of  a  factory  or  upon  any  of  the  materials  entering  into 
the  product  of  the  factory,  whether  under  contract  or  arrangement 
with  any  person  in  charge  of  or  connected  with  such,  factory 
directly  or  indirectly  through  the  instrumentality  of  one  or  more 
contractors  or  other  third  persons. 

Factory  building.  The  term  "  factory  building,"  when  used  in 
this  chapter,  means  any  building,  shed  or  structure  which,  or  any 
part  of  which,  is  occupied  by  or  used  for  a  factory. 

Mercantile  establishment.  The  term  "  mercantile  establish- 
ment," when  used  in  this  chapter,  means  any  place  where  goods, 
wares  or  merchandise  are  offered  for  sale. 

Tenement  house.  The  term  "  tenement  house,"  when  used  in 
this  chapter,  means  any  house  or  building,  or  portion  thereof, 
which  is  either  rented,  leased,  let  or  hired  out,  to  be  occupied,  or 
is  occupied  in  whole  or  in  part  as  the  home  or  residence  of  three 
families  or  more  living  independently  of  each  other,  and  doing 
their  cooking  upon  the  premises,  and  [having  a  common  right  in 
the  halls,  stairways,  yards,  water  closets  or  privies,  or  some  of 
them,]  includes  apartment  houses,  flat  houses  and  all  other  housesl 
so  occupied,  and  for  the  purposes  of  this  chapter  shall  be  construed 
to  include  any  building  on  the  same  lot  with  any  [dwelling] 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      347 

such  tenement  house  and  which  is  used  for  any  of  the  purposes 
specified  in  section  one  hundred  of  this  chapter. 

Whenever,  in  this  chapter,  authority  is  conferred  upon  the 
commissioner  of  labor,  it  shall  also  be  deemed  to  include  his  dep- 
uties or  a  deputy  acting  under  his  direction. 

§  2.  Section  seventy  of  such  chapter  is  hereby  amended  to  read 
as  follows: 

§  70.  Employment  of  minors.  No  child  under  the  age  of  four- 
teen years  shall  be  employed,  permitted  or  suffered  to  work  in  or 
in  connection  with  any  factory  in  this  state  £.],  or  for  any  factory 
at  any  place  in  this  state.  No  child  between  the  ages  of  fourteen 
and  sixteen  years  shall  be  so  employed,  permitted  or  suffered  to 
work  unless  an  employment  certificate,  issued  as  provided  in  this 
article,  shall  have  been  theretofore  filed  in  the  office  of  the  em- 
ployer at  the  place  of  employment  of  such  child.  Nothing  herein 
contained  shall  prevent  a  person  engaged  in  farming  from  per- 
mitting his  children  to  do  farm  work  for  him  upon  his  farm. 
Boys  over  the  age  of  twelve  years  may  be  employed  in  gathering 
produce  for  not  more  than  six  hours  in  any  one  day  subject  to 
the  requirements  of  the  Compulsory  Education  Law,  and  all  acts 
amendatory  thereto. 

§  3.  This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately. 


BILL  No.  9. 

AN  ACT 

To  AMEND  THE  LABOR  LAW,  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  MANUFACTURE 
OP  ARTICLES  IN  TENEMENT  HOUSES. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Article  seven  of  chapter  thirty-six  of  the  laws  of 
nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  entitled  "An  act  relating  to  labor, 
constituting  chapter  thirty-one  of  the  consolidated  laws/'  is  hereby 
amended  to  read  as  follows : 


348      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

ARTICLE  7. 
TENEMENT-MADE  ARTICLES. 

Section  100.  Manufacturing,  altering,  repairing  or  finishing  ar- 
ticles in  tenements. 

101.  Register  of  persons  to  whom  work  is  given;  identifi- 

cation label. 

102.  Goods  unlawfully  manufactured  to  be  labelled. 

103.  Powers  and  duties  of  boards  of  health  relative  to 

tenement-made  articles. 

104.  [Inspection    of    articles    manufactured    in    other 

states.]    Manufacture  of  certain  articles  in  tene- 
ments prohibited. 

105.  Owners  of  tenement  [and  dwelling]  houses  not  to 

permit  the  unlawful  use  thereof. 

106.  Factory  permits. 

§  100.  Manufacturing,  altering,  repairing  or  finishing  articles 
in  tenements.  1.  No  tenement  house  nor  any  part  thereof  shall 
be  used  for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing,  altering,  repairing  or 
finishing  therein,  any  [coats,  vests,  knee-pants,  trousers,  overalls, 
cloaks,  hats,  caps,  suspenders,  jerseys,  blouses,  dresses,  waists, 
waistbands,  underwear,  neckwear,  furs,  fur  trimmings,  fur  gar- 
ments, skirts,  shirts,  aprons,  purses,  pocket  books,  slippers,  paper 
boxes,  paper  bags,  feathers,  artificial  flowers,  cigarettes,  cigars, 
umbrellas,  or  articles  of  rubber,  nor  for  the  purpose  of  manufac- 
turing, preparing  or  packing  macaroni,  spaghetti,  ice  cream,  ices, 
candy,  confectionery,  nuts  or  preserves]  articles  whatsoever 
except  for  the  sole  and  exclusive  use  of  the  person  so  using  any 
part  of  such  tenement  house  or  the  members  of  his  household, 
without  a  license  therefor  as  provided  in  this  article.  But  noth- 
ing herein  contained  shall  apply  to  collars,  cuffs,  shirts  or  shirt 
waists  made  of  cotton  or  linen  fabrics  that  are  subjected  to  the 
laundrying  process  before  being  offered  for  sale. 

2.  Application  for  such  a  license  shall  be  made  to  the  commis- 
sioner of  labor  by  the  owner  of  such  tenement  house,  or  by  his 
duly  authorized  agent.  Such  application  shall  describe  the  house 
by  street  number  or  otherwise,  as  the  case  may  be,  in  such  manner 
as  will  enable  the  commissioner  of  labor  easily  to  find  the  same ; 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      349 

* 

it  shall  also  state  the  number  of  apartments  in  such  house;  it. 
shall  contain  the  full  name  and  address  of  the  owner  of  the  said 
•  house,  and  shall  be  in  such  form  as  the  commissioner  of  labor  may 
determine.  Blank  applications  shall  be  prepared  and  furnished 
by  the  commissioner  of  labor. 

3.  Upon  receipt  of  such  application  the  commissioner  of  labor 
shall  consult  the  records  of  the  local  health  department  or  board, 
or  other  appropriate  local  authority  charged  with  the  duty  of  sani- 
tary inspection  of  such  houses ;  if  such  records  show  the  pres- 
ence of  any  infectious,  contagious  or  communicable  disease,  or  the 
existence  of  any  uncomplied-with  order  or  violations  which  indi- 
cate the  presence  of  unsanitary  conditions  in  such  house,  the  com- 
missioner of  labor  may,  without  making  an  inspection  of  the  build- 
ing, deny  such  application  for  a  license,  and  may  continue  to  deny 
such  application  until  such  time  as  the  records  of  said  department, 
board  or  other  local  authority  show  that  the  said  tenement  house 
is  free  from  the  presence  of  infectious,  contagious  or  communicable 
disease,  and  from  all  unsanitary  conditions.  Before,  however, 
any  such  license  is  granted,  an  inspection  of  the  building  sought 
to  be  licensed  must  be  made  by  the  commissioner  of  labor,  and  a 
statement  must  be  filed  by  him  as  a  matter  of  public  record,  to  the 
effect  that  the  records  of  the  local  health  department  or  board  or 
other  appropriate  authority  charged  with  the  duty  of  sanitary  in- 
spection of  such  houses  show  the  existence  of  no  infectious,  con- 
tagious or  communicable  disease  nor  of  any  unsanitary  conditions 
in  the  said  house ;  such  statement  must  be  dated  and  signed  in  ink 
with  the  full  name  of  the  employee  responsible  therefor.  A  simi- 
lar statement  similarly  signed,  showing  the  results  of  the  inspec- 
tion of  the  said  building,  must  also  be  filed  in  the  office  of  the  com- 
missioner of  labor  before  any  license  is  granted.  If  the  commis- 
sioner of  labor  ascertain  that  such  building  is  free  from  infectious, 
contagious  or  communicable  disease,  that  there  are  no  defects  of 
plumbing  that  will  permit  the  [free]  entrance  of  sewer  air,  that 
such  building  is  in  a  clean  and  proper  sanitary  condition  and  that 
[the]  articles  [specified  in  this  section]  may  be  manufactured 
therein  under  clean  and  healthful  conditions,  he  shall  grant  a 
license  permitting  the  use  of  such  building,  for  the  purpose  of 
manufacturing[,  altering,  repairing  or  finishing  such  articles]. 


350      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

4.  Such  license  may  be  revoked  by  the  commissioner  of  labor  if 
the  health  of  the  community  or  of  the  employees  requires  it,  or  if 
the  owner  of  the  said  tenement  house,  or  his  duly  authorized  agent, 
fails   to  comply  with  the  orders  of  the  commissioner  of  labor 
within  ten  da*ys  after  the  receipt  of  such  orders,  or  if  it  appears 
that  the  building  to  which  such  license  relates  is  not  in  a  healthy 
and  proper  sanitary  condition,  or  if  children  are  employed  therein, 
in  violation  of  section  seventy  of  this  chapter.     In  every  case 
where  a  license  is  revoked  or  denied  by  the  commissioner  of  labor, 
the  reasons  therefor  shall  be  stated  in  writing,  and  the  records  of 
such  revocation  or  denial  shall  be  deemed  public  records.     Where 
a  license  is  revoked,  before  such  tenement  house  can  again  be  used 
for  the  purposes  specified  in  this  section,  a  new  license  must  be 
obtained,  as  if  no  license  had  previously  existed. 

5.  Every  tenement  house  and  all  the  parts  thereof  in  which  any 
[of  the]  articles  [named  in  this  section]  are  manufactured,  al- 
tered, repaired  or  finished  shall  be  kept  in  a  clean  and  sanitary 
condition  and  shall  be  subject  to  inspection  and  examination  by 
the  commissioner  of  labor,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  whether 
said  garments  or  articles,  or  part  or  parts  thereof,  are  clean  and 
free  from  vermin  and  every  matter  of  an  infectious  or  contagious 
nature.     An  inspection  shall  be  made  by  the  commissioner  of 
labor  of  each  licensed  tenement  house  not  less  than  once  in  every 
six  months,  to  determine  its  sanitary  condition,  and  shall  include 
all  parts  of  such  house  and  the  plumbing  thereof.    Before  making 
such  inspection  the  commissioner  of  labor  may  consult  the  records 
of  the  local  department  or  board  charged  with  the  duty  of  sani- 
tary inspection  of  tenement  houses,  to  determine  the  frequency 
of  orders  issued  by  such  department  or  board  in  relation  to  the 
said  tenement  house,  since  the  last  inspection  of  such  building  was1 
made  by  the  commissioner  of  labor.    Whenever  the  commissioner 
of  labor  finds  any  unsanitary  condition  in  a  tenement  house  for 
which  a  license  has  been  issued  as  provided  in  this  section,  he  shall 
at  once  issue  an  order  to  the  owner  thereof  directing  him  to  rem- 
edy such   condition   forthwith.     Whenever  the  commissioner  of 
labor  finds  any  [of  the]  articles  [specified  in  this  section]  manu- 
factured, altered,  repaired  or  finished,  or  in  process  thereof,  in  a 
room  or  apartment  of  a  tenement  house,  and  such  room  or  apart- 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATIVE.      351 

merit  is  in  a  filthy  condition,  he  shall  notify  the  tenants  thereof  to 
immediately  clean  the  same,,  and  to  maintain  it  in  a  cleanly  con- 
dition at  all  times;  where  the  commissioner  of  labor  finds  such 
room  or  apartment  to  be  habitually  kept  in  a  filthy  condition,  he 
may  in  his  discretion  cause  to  be  affixed  to  the  entrance  door  of 
such  apartment  a  placard  calling  attention  to  such  facts  and  pro- 
hibiting the  manufacture,  alteration,  repair  or  finishing  of  [said] 
any  articles  therein,  No  person,  except  the  commissioner  of  labor, 
shall  remove  or  deface  any  such  placard  so  affixed. 

6.    [None  of  the]  No  articles  [specified  in  this  section]  shall 
be  manufactured,  altered,  repaired  or  finished  in  any  room  or 
apartment  of  a  tenement  house  where  there  is  or  has  been  a  case 
of  infectious,  contagious  or  communicable  disease  in  such  room 
or  apartment,  until  such  time  as  the  local  department  or  board  of 
health  shall  certify  to  the  commissioner  of  labor  that  such  disease 
has  terminated,  and  that  said  room  or  apartment  has  been  prop- 
erly disinfected,  if  disinfection  after  such  disease  is  required  by 
the  local  ordinances,  or  by  the  rules  or  regulations  of  such  depart- 
ment or  board.     [None  of  the]  No  articles  [specified  in  this  sec- 
tion] shall  be  manufactured,  altered,  repaired  or  finished  in  a  part 
of  a  cellar  or  basement  of  a  tenement  house,  which  is  more  than 
one-half  of  its  height  below  the  level  of  the  curb  or  ground  outside 
of  or  adjoining  the  same;  but  this  prohibition  shall  not  apply  to 
the  use  of  a  bakery  of  a  cellar  for  which  a  certificate  of  exemption 
is  issued  under  section  one  hundred  and  sixteen  of  this  chapter. 
No  person  shall  hire,  employ  or  contract  with  any  person  to  manu- 
facture, alter,  repair  or  finish  any  [of  the]  articles  [named  in  this 
section]  in  any  room  or  apartment  in  any  tenement  house  not  hav- 
ing a  license  therefor  issued  as  aforesaid.     [None  of  the]  No 
articles  [specified  in  this  section]  shall  be  manufactured,  altered, 
repaired  or  finished  in  any  room  or  apartment  of  a  tenement  house 
unless  said  room  or  apartment  shall  be  well  lighted  and  ventilated 
and  shall  contain  at  least  five  hundred  cubic  feet  of  air  space  for 
every  person  working  therein,  or  by  any  person  other  than  the 
members  of  the  family  living  therein ;  except  that  in  licensed  tene- 
ment houses  persons  not  members  of  the  family  may  be  employed 
in  apartments  on  the  ground  floor  or  second  floor,  used  only  for 
shops  of  dressmakers  who  deal  solely  in  the  custom  trade  direct  to 


352      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

the  consumer,  provided  that  such  apartments  shall  be  in  the  opin- 
ion of  the  commissioner  of  labor  in  the  highest  degree  sanitary, 
well  lighted,  well  ventilated  and  plumbed,  and  provided  further 
that  the  whole  number  of  persons  therein  shall  not  exceed  one  to 
each  one  thousand  cubic  feet  of  air  space,  and  that  there  shall  be 
no  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age  living  or  working  therein ; 
before  any  such  room  or  apartment  can  be  so  used  a  special  permit 
therefor  shall  be  issued  by  the  commissioner  of  labor,  a  copy  of 
which  shall  be  entered  in  his  public  records  with  a  statement  of 
the  reasons  therefor.  Nothing  in  this  section  contained  shall  pre: 
vent  the  employment  of  a  tailor  or  seamstress  by  any  person  or 
family  for  the  purpose  of  making,  altering,  repairing  or  finishing 
any  article  of  wearing  apparel  for  the  use  of  such  person  or  fam- 
ily. Nor  shall  this  [section]  article  apply  to  a  house  if  the  only 
[work]  manufacturing  therein  [on  the  articles  herein  specified] 
be  carried  on  in  a  shop  on  the  main  or  ground  floor  thereof  with  a 
separate  entrance  to  the  street,  unconnected  with  living  rooms  and 
entirely  separate  from  the  rest  of  the  building  by  closed  partitions 
without  any  openings  whatsoever  and  not  used  for  sleeping  or 
cooking. 

§  101.  Register  of  persons  to  whom  work  is  given;  identifica- 
tion label.  [Persons]  Every  employer  in  any  factory  contracting 
for  the  manufacturing,  altering,  repairing  or  finishing  of  any  [of 
the]  articles  [mentioned  in  section  one  hundred  of  this  article] 
in  a  tenement  house  or  giving  out  material  from  which  they  or  any 
part  of  them  are  to  be  manufactured,  altered,  repaired  or  finished,  w 
a  tenement  house,  shall  keep  a  register  of  the  names  and  addresses 
plainly  written  in  English  of  the  persons  to  whom  such  articles 
or  materials  are  given  to  be  so  manufactured,  altered,  repaired 
or  finished  or  with  whom  they  have  contracted  to  do  the  same,  and 
shaft  issue  with  all  such  articles  or  materials  a  label  bearing  the 
name  and  place  of  business  of  such  factory  written  or  printed 
legibly  in  English.  It  shall  be  incumbent  upon  every  employer 
and  upon  all  persons  contracting  for  the  manufacturing,  altering, 
repairing  or  finising  of  any  [of  the]  articles  [specified  in  section 
one  hundred  of  this  article]  or  giving  out  material  from  which 
they  or  any  part  of  them  are  to  be  manufactured,  altered,  repaired 
or  finished,  before  giving  out  [the  same]  any  such  articles  or  ma- 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      353 

terials  to  ascertain  from  the  office  of  the  commissioner  of  labor 
whether  the  tenement  house  in  which  such  articles  or  materials  are 
to  be  manufactured,  altered,  repaired  or  finished,  is  licensed  as 
provided  in  this  article,  and  also  to  ascertain  from  the  local  de- 
partment or  board  of  health  the  names  and  addresses  of  all  persons 
then  sick  of  any  infectious,  contagious  or  communicable  disease, 
and  residing  in  tenement  houses ;  and  none  of  the  said  articles  nor 
any  material  from  which  they  or  any  part  of  them  are  to  be  manu- 
factured, altered,  repaired  or  finished  shall  be  given  out  or  sent 
to  any  person  residing  in  a  tenement  house  that  is  not  licensed  as 
provided  in  this  article,  or  to  any  person  residing  in  a  room  or 
apartment  in  which  there  exists  any  infectious,  contagious  or  com- 
municable disease.  The  register  mentioned  in  this  section  shall 
be  subject  to  inspection  by  the  commissioner  of  labor,  and  a  copy 
thereof  shall  be  furnished  on  his  demand  as  well  as  such  other  in- 
formation as  he  may  require.  The  label  mentioned  in  this  section 
shall  be  exhibited  on  the  demand  of  the  commissioner  of  labor  at 
any  time  while  said  articles  or  materials  remain  in  the  tenement 
house. 

§  102.  Goods  unlawfully  manufactured  to  be  labeled.  Articles 
manufactured,  altered,  repaired  or  finished  in  a  tenement  house 
contrary  to  the  provisions  [of  section  one  hundred]  of  this  chap- 
ter shall  not  be  sold  or  exposed  for  sale  by  any  person.  The  com- 
missioner of  labor  may  conspicuously  affix  to  any  such  article 
found  to  be  unlawfully  manufactured,  altered,  repaired  or  fin- 
ished, a  label  containing  the  words  "  tenement  made  "  printed 
in  small  pica  capital  letters  on  a  tag  not  less  than  four  inches  in 
length,  or  may  seize  and  hold  such  article  until  the  same  shall 
be  disinfected  or  cleaned  at  the  owner's  expense,  or  until  all  pro- 
visions of  this  chapter  are  complied  with.  The  commissioner  of 
labor  shall  notify  the  person  stated  by  the  person  in  possession 
of  said  article  to  be  the  owner  thereof,  that  he  has  so  labeled  or 
seized  it.  !N"o  person  except  the  commissioner  of  labor,  or  a  local 
board  of  health  in  a  case  provided  for  in  section  one  hundred  and 
three,  shall  remove  or  deface  any  tag  or  label  so  affixed.  Unless 
the  owner  or  person  entitled  to  the  possession  of  an  article  so 
seized  shall  provide  for  the  disinfection  or  cleaning  thereof  within 
one  month  thereafter  it  may  be  destroyed. 
23 


354      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

§  103.  Powers  and  duties  of  boards  of  health  relative  to  tene- 
ment-made articles.  If  the  commissioner  of  labor  finds  evidence 
of  disease  present  in  [a  workshop  or  in]  a  room  or  apartment  in 
a  tenement  house  [or  dwelling  house]  in  which  any  [of  the] 
articles  [named  in  section  one  hundred  of  this  chapter]  are 
manufactured,  altered  repaired  or  finished  or  in  process  thereof, 
he  shall  affix  to  such  article  the  label  prescribed  in  the  preceding 
section,  and  immediately  report  to  the  local  board  of  health,  who 
shall  disinfect  such  articles,  if  necessary,  and  thereupon  remove 
such  label.  If  the  commissioner  of  labor  finds  that  infectious 
[or]  contagious  or  communicable  diseases  exist  in  a  [workshop,] 
room  or  apartment  of  a  tenement  [or  dwelling]  house  in  which 
any  [of  the]  articles  [specified  in  section  one  hundred  of  this 
chapter]  are  being  manufactured,  altered,  repaired  or  finished, 
or  that  articles  manufactured  or  in  process  of  manufacture 
therein  are  infected  or  that  goods  used  therein  are  unfit  for  use, 
he  shall  report  to  the  local  board  of  health.  The  local  health  de- 
partment or  board  in  every  city,  town  and  village  whenever  there 
is  any  infectious,  contagious  or  communicable  disease  in  a  tene- 
ment house  shall  cause  an  inspection  of  such  tenement  house  to 
be  made  within  forty-eight  hours.  If  any  [of  the]  articles 
[specified  in  section  one  hundred  of  this  chapter]  are  found  to 
be  manufactured,  altered,  repaired  or  finished,  or  in  process 
thereof  in  an  apartment  in  which  such  disease  exists,  such  board 
shall  issue  such  order  as  the  public  health  may  require,  and  shall 
at  once  report  such  facts  to  the  commissioner  of  labor,  furnishing 
such  further  information  as  he  may  require.  Such  board  may 
condemn  and  destroy  all  such  infected  article  or  articles  manu- 
factured or  in  the  process  of  manufacture  under  unclean  or  unT 
healthful  conditions.  The  local  health  department  or  board  or 
other  appropriate  authority  charged  with  the  duty  of  sanitary  inj 
spection  of  such  houses  in  every  city,  town  and  village  shall,  when' 
so  requested  by  the  commissioner  of  labor,  furnish  copies  of  its 
records  as  to  the  presence  of  infectious,  contagious  or  com- 
municable disease,  or  of  unsanitary  conditions  in  said  houses; 
and  shall  furnish  such  other  information  as  may  be  necessary  to 
enable  the  commissioner  of  labor  to  carry  out  the  provisions  of 
this  article. 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      355 

§  104.  [Inspection  of  articles  manufactured  in  other  states.] 
Manufacturing  of  certain  articles  in  tenements  prohibited. 
[Whenever  it  is  reported  to  the  commissioner  of  labor  that  any 
of  the  articles  named  in  section  one  hundred  of  this  chapter  are 
being  shipped  into  this  state,  having  previously  been  manufac- 
tured in  whole  or  in  part  under  unclean,  unsanitary  or  unhealthy 
conditions,  said  commissioner  shall  examine  said  articles  and  the 
conditions  of  their  manufacture,  and  if  upon  such  examination 
said  goods  or  any  part  of  them  are  found  to  contain  vermin  or  to 
have  been  manufactured  in  improper  places  or  under  unhealthy 
conditions,  he  shall  forthwith  affix  to  them  the  tax  or  label  herein- 
before described  and  report  to  the  local  board  of  health,  which 
board  shall  thereupon  make  such  order  or  orders  as  the  public, 
safety  may  require.] 

No  article  of  food,  no  dolls  or  dolls'  clothing  and  no  article  of 
children's  or  infants'  wearing  apparel  shall  be  manufactured, 
altered,  repaired  or  finished,  in  whole  or  in  part,  for  a  factory, 
either  directly  or  through  the  instrumentality  of  one  or  more  con- 
tractors or  other  third  person,  in  a  tenement  house,  in  any  portion 
of  an  apartment,  any  part  of  which  is  used  for  living  purposes. 

§  105.  Owners  of  tenement  [and  dwelling]  houses  not  to  per- 
mit the  unlawful  use  thereof.  The  owner  or  agent  of  a  tenement 
house  [or  dwelling  house]  shall  not  permit  the  use  thereof  for 
the  manufacture,  repair,  alteration  or  finishing  of  any  [of  the] 
article  [mentioned  in  this  article]  contrary  to  [its]  the  pro- 
visions of  this  chapter.  If  a  room  or  apartment  in  such  tenement 
house  [or  dwelling  house]  be  so  unlawfully  used,  the  commis- 
sioner of  labor  shall  serve  a  notice  thereof  upon  such  owner  or 
agent.  Unless  such  owner  or  agent  shall  cause  such  unlawful 
manufacture  to  be  discontinued  within  ten  days  after  the  service 
of  such  notice,  or  within  fifteen  days  thereafter  institutes  and 
faithfully  prosecutes  proceedings  for  dispossession  of  the  occu- 
pant of  a  tenement  house,  [or  dwelling  house,]  who  unlawfully 
manufactures,  repairs,  alters  or  finishes  [such]  any  articles 
therein,  he  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  violation  of  this  [article,] 
chapter  as  if  he,  himself,  was  engaged  in  such  unlawful  manu- 
facture, repair,  alteration  or  finishing.  The  unlawful  manufac- 
ture, repair,  alteration  or  finishing  of  any  [of  such]  articles  by 


356      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

the  occupant  of  a  room  or  apartment  of  a  tenement  house  [or 
dwelling]  shall  be  a  cause  for  dispossessing  such  occupant  by 
summary  proceedings  to  recover  possession  of  real  property,  as 
provided  in  the  code  of  civil  procedure. 

§  106.  Factory  permits.  The  owner  of  every  factory  for  which 
any  articles  are  manufactured  in  any  tenement  house  shall  secure 
a  permit  therefor  from  the  commissioner  of  labor  who  shall  issue 
such  permit  to  any  such  owner  applying  therefor.  Such  permit 
may  be  revoked  or  suspended  by  the  commissioner  of  labor  when- 
ever any  provision  of  this  article  or  of  section  seventy  of  this 
chapter  is  violated  in  connection  with  any  work  for  such  factory. 
Such  permit  may  be  reissued  or  reinstated  in  the  discretion  of  the 
commissioner  when  such  violation  has  ceased.  No  articles  shall 
be  manufactured  in  any  tenement  house  for  any  factory  for  which, 
no  permit  has  been  issued  or  for  any  factory  whose  permit  is  sus- 
pended or  revoked.  A  complete  list  of  all  factories  holding  such 
permits,  together  with  the  name  of  the  owner  of  each  such  factory, 
the  address  of  the  business  and  the  name  under  which  it  is  carried 
on,  and  of  all  tenement  houses  holding  licenses,  and  a  list  of  all 
permits  and  licenses  revoked  or  suspended  shall^be  published  from 
time  to  time  by  the  department  of  labor. 

§  2.  This  act  shall  take  effect  October  first,  nineteen  hundred 
and  thirteen. 


BILL  No.  10. 

ACT 


To  AMEND  THE  LABOR  LAW,  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  EMPLOYMENT 
OF  WOMEN  IN  CANNING  ESTABLISHMENTS. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Subdivision  three  of  section  seventy-seven  of  chapter 
thirty-six  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  entitled  "An 
act  relating  to  labor,  constituting  chapter  thirty-one  of  the  con- 
solidated laws,"  as  amended  by  chapter  five  hundred  and  thirty- 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATIVE.      357 

nine  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred  and  twelve,  is  hereby 
amended  to  read  as  follows: 

3.  J^o  female  minor  under  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  and  no 
woman  shall  be  employed  or  permitted  to  work  in  any  factory  in 
this  state  [before  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  or  after  nine  o'clock 
in  the  evening  of  any  day,  or]  more  than  six  days  or  fifty-four 
hours  in  any  one  week ;  nor  for  more  than  nine  hours  in  any  one 
day  except  as  hereinafter  provided.  No  female  minor  under  the 
age  of  twenty-one  years  shall  be  employed  or  permitted  to  work  in 
any  factory  in  this  state  before  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  or  after 
nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  any  day. 

§  2.  Subdivisions  two  and  three  of  section  seventy-eight  of  such 
chapter,  as  amended  by  chapter  five  hundred  and  thirty-nine  of 
the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred  and-  twelve,  are  hereby  amended  to 
read  as  follows : 

2.  The  provisions  of  subdivision^]  two  [and  three]  of  section 
seventy-seven  relating  to  maximum  hours  shall  not  apply  to  the 
employment  of  [women  and]  male  minors  sixteen  years  of  age 
and  upwards  in  canning  or  preserving  perishable  products   in 
fruit  and  canning  establishments  between  the  fifteenth  day  of 
June  and  the  fifteenth  day  of  October  each  year. 

3.  A  female  eighteen  years  of  age  or  upwards  may,  notwith- 
standing the  provisions  of  subdivision  three  of  section  seventy- 
seven  of  this  chapter,  be  employed  in  canning  or  preserving  per- 
ishable products  in  fruit  and  canning  establishments  between  the 
fifteenth  day  of  June  and  the  fifteenth  day  of  October  in  each 
year  not  more  than  six  days  or  sixty  hours  in  any  one  week  nor 
more  than  ten  hours  in  any  one  day;  and  the  industrial  board 
shall  have  power  to  adopt  rules  and  regulations  permitting  the 
employment  of  women  eighteen  years  of  age  and  upwards  on  such 
work  in  such  establishments  between  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  June 
and  the  fifth  day  of  August  in  each  year  not  more  than  six  days 
nor  more  than  sixty-six  hours  in  any  one  week  nor  more  than 
twelve  hours  in  any  one  day,  if  said  board  shall  find  that  such  em- 
ployment is  required  by  the  needs  of  such  industry  and  can  be 
permitted  without  serious  injury  to  the  health  of  women  so  em- 
ployed.    The  provisions  of  this  subdivision  shall  have  no  applica- 
tion unless  the  daily  hours  of  labor  shall  be  posted  for  the  in  for- 


358      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

mation  of  employees  and  a  time  book  in  a  form  approved  by  the 
commissioner  of  labor,,  giving  the  names  and  addresses  of  all 
female  employees  and  the  hours  of  work  by  each  of  them  in  each 
day  shall  be  properly  and  correctly  kept  and  shall  be  exhibited  to 
him  or  any  of  his  subordinates  promptly  upon  demand.  No  person 
shall  knowingly  make  or  permit  or  suffer  to  be  made  a  false  entry 
in  any  such  time  book. 

§  3.  Subdivision  three  of  said  section  seventy-eight  is  hereby 
renumbered  subdivision  four. 

§  4.  This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately. 


BILL  No.  11. 

AN  ACT 

To  AMEND  THE  LABOR  LAW,  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  HOUSING  OF 
FACTORY  EMPLOYEES. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Chapter  thirty-six  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred 
and  nine,  entitled  "An  act  relating  to  labor,  constituting  chapter 
thirty-one  of  the  consolidated  laws,"  is  hereby  amended  by  insert- 
ing therein  after  section  ninety-seven,  a  new  section  to  be  known 
as  section  ninety-eight,  to  read  as  follows: 

§  98.  Labor  camps.  Every  employer  operating  a  factory,  and 
furnishing  to  the  employees  thereof  any  living  quarters  at  any 
place  outside  the  factory,  either  directly  or  through  any  third  per- 
son by  contract  or  otherwise,  shall  maintain  such  living  quarters 
and  every  part  thereof  in  a  thoroughly  sanitary  condition.  The 
industrial  board  shall  have  power  to  make  rules  and  regulations  to 
provide  for  the  sanitation  of  such  living  quarters.  The  commis- 
sioner of  labor  may  enter  and  inspect  any  such  living  quarters. 

§  2.  This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately. 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATUI;K.      359 

BILL  XO.  12. 

Ax  ACT 

To  AMKXD  THE  LABOR  LAW,  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  PHYSICAL 
EXAMINATION  OF  CHILDREN  EMPLOYED  IN  FACTORIES  AND 
CANCELLATION  OF  THEIR  EMPLOYMENT  CERTIFICATES  UK- 
CAUSE  OF  PHYSICAL  UNFIT  NESS. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Chapter  thirty-six  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred 
and  nine,  entitled  "An  act  relating  to  labor,  constituting  chapter 
thirty-one  of  the  consolidated  laws,"  is  hereby  amended  by  insert- 
ing therein,  after  section  seventy-six  thereof,  a  new  section,  to  be 
section  seventy-six-a,  to  read  as  follows: 

§  iQ-a.  Physical  examination  of  children  in  factories;  cancel- 
lation of  employment  certificates.  1.  All  children  between  four- 
teen and  sixteen  years  of  age  employed  in  factories  shall  submit  to 
a  physical  examination  whenever  required  by  a  medical  inspector 
of  the  state  department  of  labor.  The  result  of  all  such  physical 
examinations  shall  be  recorded  on  blanks  furnished  for  that  pur- 
pose by  the  commissioner  of  labor,  and  shall  be  kept  on  file  in  such 
office  or  offices  of  the  department  as  the  commissioner  of  labor  may 
designate. 

2.  If  any  such  child  shall  fail  to  submit  to  such  physical  ex- 
amination, the  commissioner  of  labor  may  issue  an  order  can- 
celling  such  child's  employment  certificate.  Such  order  shall  be 
served  upon  the  employer  of  such  child  who  shall  forthwith  deliver 
to  an  authorized  representative  of  the  department  of  labor  the 
child's  employment  certificate.  A  certified  copy  of  the  order  of 
cancellation  shall  be  served  on  the  board  of  health  or  other  local 
authority  that  issued  the  said  certificate.  No  such  child  whose 
employment  certificate  has  been  cancelled,  as  aforesaid,  shall, 
while  said  cancellation  remains  unrevoked,  be  permitted  or  suf- 
fered to  work  in  any  factory  of  the  state  before  it  attains  the  age 
of  sixteen  years.  If  thereafter  such  child  shall  submit  to  the 
physical  examination  required,  the  commissioner  of  labor  may 


360      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

issue  an  order  revoking  the  cancellation  of  the  employment  cer- 
tificate and  may  return  the  employment  certificate  to  such  child. 
Copies  of  the  order  of  revocation  shall  be  served  upon  the  former 
employer  of  the  child  and  the  local  board  of  health  as  aforesaid. 
3.  If  as  a  result  of  the  physical  examination  made  by  a  medical 
inspector  it  appears  that  the  child  is  physically  unfit  to  be  em- 
ployed in  a  factory,  such  medical  inspector  shall  forthwith  submit 
a  report  to  that  effect  to  the  commissioner  of  labor  which  shall  be 
kept  on  file  in  the  office  of  the  commissioner  of  labor,  setting  forth 
in  detail  his  reasons  therefor,  and  the  commissioner  of  labor  may 
issue  an  order  cancelling  the  employment  certificate  of  such  child. 
Such  order  of  cancellation  shall  be  served,  and  the  child's  employ- 
ment certificate  delivered  up,  as  provided  in  subdivision  two 
hereof,  and  no  such  child  while  the  said  order  of  cancellation 
remains  unrevoked  shall  be  permitted  or  suffered  to  work  in  any 
factory  of  the  state  before  it  attains  the  age  of  sixteen  years.  If 
upon  a  subsequent  physical  examination  of  the  child  by  a  medical 
inspector  of  the  department  of  labor  it  appears  that  the  physical 
infirmities  have  been  removed,  such  medical  inspector  shall 
certify  to  that  effect  to  the  commissioner  of  labor,  and  the  com- 
missioner of  labor  may  thereupon  make  an  order  revoking  the 
cancellation  of  the  employment  certificate  and  may  return  the 
certificate  to  such  child.  The  order  of  revocation  shall  be  served 
in  the  manner  provided  in  subdivision  two  hereof. 

§  2.  This  act  shall  take  effect  October  first,  nineteen  hundred 
pnd  thirteen. 


BILL  STo.  13. 

AN  ACT 

To  AMEND   THE   LABOR  LAW,    IN   RELATION   TO   EMPLOYMENT 

CERTIFICATES. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Subdivision  (e)   of  section  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
three  of  chapter  thirty-six  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred  and 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      301 

nine,  entitled  "  An  act  relating  to  labor,  constituting  chapter  thirty- 
one  of  the  consolidated  laws/'  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as 
follows : 

(e)  Physicians'  certificates.  In  cities  of  the  first  class  only, 
in  case  application  for  the  issuance  of  an  employment  certificate 
shall  be  made  to  such  officer  by  a  child's  parent,  guardian  or 
custodian  who  alleges  his  inability  to  produce  any  of  the  evidence 
of  age  specified  in  the  preceding  subdivisions  of  this  section,  and 
if  the  child  is  apparently  at  least  fourteen  years  of  age,  such 
officer  may  receive  and  file  an  application  signed  by  the  parent, 
guardian  or  custodian  of  such  child  for  physicians'  certificates. 
Such  application  shall  contain  the  alleged  age,  place  and  date  of 
birth,  and  present  residence  of  such  child,  together  with  such 
further  facts  as  may  be  of  assistance  in  determining  the  age  of 
such  child.  Such  application  shall  be  filed  for  not  less  than 
ninety  days  after  date  of  such  application  for  such  physicians' 
certificates,  for  an  examination  to  be  made  of  the  statements  con- 
tained therein,  and  in  case  no  facts  appear  within  such  period  or 
by  such  examination  tending  to  discredit  or  contradict  any  ma- 
terial statement  of  such  application,  then  and  not  otherwise  the 
officer  may  direct  such  child  to  appear  thereafter  for  physical 
examination  before  two  physicians  officially  designated  by  the 
board  of  health,  and  in  case  such  physicians  shall  certify  in  writing 
that  they  have  separately  examined  such  child  and  that  in  their 
opinion  such  child  is  at  least  fourteen  years  of  age  such  officer 
shall  accept  such  certificate  as  sufficient  proof  of  the  age  of  such 
child  for  the  purposes  of  this  section.  In  case  the  opinions  of 
such  physicians  do  not  concur,  the  child  shall  be  examined  by  a 
third  physician  and  the  concurring  opinions  shall  be  conclusive 
for  the  purpose  of  this  section  as  to  the  age  of  such  child. 

Such  officer  shall  require  the  evidence  of  age  specified  in  sub- 
division (a)  in  preference  to  that  specified  in  any  subsequent 
subdivision  and  shall  not  accept  the  evidence  of  age  permitted  by 
any  subsequent  subdivision  unless  he  shall  receive  and  file  in 
addition  thereto  an  affidavit  of  the  parent  showing  that  no  evidence 
of  age  specified  in  any  preceding  subdivision  or  subdivisions  of 
this  section  can  be  produced.  Such  affidavit  shall  contain  the  age, 
place  and  date  of  birth  and  present  residence  of  such  child,  which 


362      APPEXDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

affidavit  must  be  taken  before  the  officer  issuing  the  employment 
certificate,  who  is  hereby  authorized  and  required  to  administer 
such  oath,  and  who  shall  not  demand  or  receive  a  fee  therefor. 
Such  employment  certificate  shall  not  be  issued  until  such  child 
shall  further  have  personally  appeared  before  and  been  examined 
by  the  officer  issuing  the  certificate,  and  until  such  officer  shall, 
after  making  such  examination,  sign  and  file  in  his  office  a  state- 
ment that  the  child  can  read  and  legibly  write  simple  sentences 
in  the  English  language  and  that  in  his  opinion  the  child  is  four- 
teen years  of  age  or  upwards  and  has  reached  the  normal  develop- 
ment of  a  child  of  its  age,  and  is  in  sound  health  and  is  physically 
able  to  perform  the  work  which  it  intends  to  do.  [In  doubtful 
cases  such  physical  fitness  shall  be  determined  by  a  medical  officer 
of  the  board  or  department  of  health.]  In  every  case,  before  an 
employment  certificate  is  issued,  such  physical  fitness  shall  be 
determined  by  a  medical  officer  of  the  department  or  board  of 
health,  who  shall  make  a,  thorough  physical  examination  of  the 
child  and  record  the  result  thereof  on  a  blank  to  be  furnished  for 
the  purpose  by  the  commissioner  of  labor  and  shall  set  forth 
thereon  such  facts  concerning  the  physical  condition  and  history 
of  the  child  as  the  commissioner  of  labor  may  require.  Every 
such  employment  certificate  shall  be  signed  in  the  presence  of  the 
officer  issuing  the  same,  by  the  child  in  whose  name  it  is  issued. 

§  2.  Sections  seventy-three  and  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  of 
such  chapter  are  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows : 

§  73.  School  record,  what  to  contain.  The  school  record 
required  by  this  article  shall  be  signed  by  the  principal  or  chief 
executive  officer  of  the  school  which  such  child  has  attended  and 
shall  be  furnished,  on  demand,  to  a  child  entitled  thereto  or  to 
the  board,  department  or  commissioner  of  health.  It  shall  con- 
tain a  statement  certifying  that  the  child  has  regularly  attended 
the  public  schools  or  schools  equivalent  thereto,  or  parochial 
schools,  for  not  less  than  one  hundred  and  thirty  days  during  the 
twelve  months  next  preceding  his  fourteenth  birthday,  or  'during 
the  twelve  months  next  preceding  his  application  for  sucL  school 
record  and  is  able  to  read  and  wriu  simple  sentences  in  the  Eng- 
lish language,  and  has  received  during  such  period  instruction  in 
reading,  spelling,  writing,  English  grammar  and  geography  and 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      363 

is  familiar  with  the  fundamental  operations  of  arithmetic  up  to 
and  including  fractions  [.]  apd  has  completed  the  work  prescribed 
for  the  first  six  years  of  the  public  elementary  school  or  school 
equivalent  thereto  or  parochial  school  from  which  such  school 
record  is  issued.  Such  school  record  shall  also  give  the  date  of 
birth  and  residence  of  the  child  as  shown  on  the  records  of  the 
school  and  the  name  of  its  parent  or  guardian  or  custodian. 

§  165.  School  record,  what  to  contain.  The  school  record 
required  by  this  article  shall  be  signed  by  the  principal  or  chief 
executive  officer  of  the  school  which  such  child  has  attended  and 
shall  be  furnished  on  demand  to  a  child  entitled  thereto  or  to  the 
board,  department  or  commissioner  of  health.  It  shall  contain 
a  statement  certifying  that  the  child  has  regularly  attended  the 
public  schools  or  schools  equivalent  thereto  or  parochial  schools 
for  not  less  than  one  hundred  and  thirty  days  during  the  twelve 
months  next  preceding  his  fourteenth  birthday,  or  during  the 
twelve  months  next  preceding  his  application  for  such  school 
record,  and  is  able  to  read  and  write  simple  sentences  in  the 
English  language,  has  received  during  such  period  instruction  in 
reading,  spelling,  writing,  English  grammar  .and  geography,  and 
is  familiar  with  the  fundamental  operations  of  arithmetic  up  to 
and  including  fractions  [.]  and  has  completed  the  work  prescribed 
for  the  first  six  years  of  the  public  elementary  school  or  school 
equivalent  thereto  or  parochml  school,  from  which  such  school 
record  is  issued.  Such  school  record  shall  also  give  the  date  of 
birth  and  residence  of  the  child  as  shown  on  the  records  of  the 
school  and  the  name  of  its  parent  or  guardian  or  custodian. 

§  3.  Section  seventy-five  of  such  chapter  as  amended  by  chapter 
three  hundred  and  thirty-three  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred 
and  twelve  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows : 

§  75.  [Report  of  certificates  issued.]  Supervision  over  issu- 
ance of  certificates.  The  board  or  department  of  health  or  health 
commissioner  of  a  city,  village  or  town  shall  transmit  between  the 
first  and  tenth  day  of  each  month,  to  the  [office  of  the]  commis- 
sioner of  labor,  a  list  of  the  names  of  [the]  all  children  to  whom 
certificates  have  been  issued  during  the  preceding  month  together 
with  a  duplicate  of  the  record  of  [the  physical  examination  of  all 
such  children  made  as  hereinbefore  provided]  every  examination 


364      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

as  to  physical  fitness,  including  examinations  resulting  in 
rejection. 

In  cities  of  the  first  and  second  class  all  employment  certifi- 
cates and  school  records  required  under  the  provisions  of  this 
chapter  shall  be  in  such  form  as  shall  be  approved  by  the  com- 
missioner of  labor.  In  towns,  villages  or  cities  other  than  cities 
of  the  first  or  second  class,  the  commissioner  of  labor  shall  prepare 
and  furnish  blank  forms  for  such  employment  certificates  and 
school  records.  No  school  record  or  employment  certificate  re- 
quired by  this  article,  other  than  those  approved  or  furnished  by 
the  commissioner  of  labor  as  above  provided,  shall  be  used.  The 
commissioner  of  labor  shall  inquire  into  the  administration  and 
enforcement  of  the  provisions  of  this  article  by  all  public  officers 
charged  with  the  duty  of  issuing  employment  certificates,  and  for 
that  purpose  the  commissioner  of  labor  shall  have  access  to  all 
papers  and  records  required  to  be  kept  by  all  such  officers. 

§  4.  Such  chapter  is  hereby  amended  by  inserting  therein, 
after  section  one  hundred  and  sixty-five,  a  new  section  to  be  known 
as  section  one  hundred  and  sixty-six  and  to  read  as  follows: 

§  166.  Supervision  over  issuance  of  certificates.  The  board 
or  department  of  health  or  health  commissioner  of  a  city,  village 
or  town  shall  transmit  between  the  first  and  tenth  day  of  each 
month  to  the  commissioner  of  labor  a  list  of  the  names  of  all 
children  to  whom  certificates  have  been  issued  during  the  pre- 
ceding month,  together  with  a  duplicate  record  of  all  examinations 
as  to  physical  fitness,  including  those  resulting  in  rejection.  In 
cities  of  the  first  and  second  class  all  employment  certificates  and 
school  records  required  under  the  provisions  of  this  chapter  shall 
be  in  such  form  as  shajl  be  approved  by  the  commissioner  of  labor. 
In  towns,  villages  or  cities  other  than  cities  of  the  first  or  second 
class,  the  commissioner  of  labor  shall  prepare  and  furnish  blank 
forms  for  such  employment  certificates  and  school  records.  No 
school  record  or  employment  certificate  required  by  this  article 
other  than  those  approved  or  furnished  by  the  commissioner  of 
labor  as  above  provided  shall  be  used.  The  commissioner  of  labor 
shall  inquire  into  the  administration  and  enforcement  of  the  pro- 
visions of  this  article  by  all  public  officers  charged  with  the  duty 
of  issuing  employment  certificates,  and  for  that  purpose  the  com- 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      365 

missioner  of  labor  shall  have  access  to  all  papers  and  records 
required  to  be  kept  by  all  such  officers. 

§  5.  This  act  shall  take  effect  October  first,  nineteen  hundred 
an  1  ;li::rteen. 


BILL  NO.  14. 
AN  ACT 

To  AMEND  THE  EDUCATIONAL  LAW,  IN  RELATION  TO  SCHOOL- 
RECORD  CERTIFICATES. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Subdivision  one  of  section  six  hundred  and  thirty 
of  chapter  twenty-one  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred  and  nine, 
entitled  "An  act  relating  to  education,  constituting  chapter  sixteen 
of  the  consolidated  laws,"  as  amended  by  chapter  one  hundred  and 
forty  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred  and  ten,  is  hereby  amended 
to  read  as  follows: 

1.  A  school-record  certificate  shall  contain  a  statement  certify- 
ing that  a  child  has  regularly  attended  the  public  schools,  or 
schools  equivalent  thereto,  or  parochial  schools,  for  not  less  than 
one  hundred  and  thirty  days  during  the  twelve  months  next  pre- 
ceding his  fourteenth  birthday  or  during  the  twelve  months  next 
preceding  his  application  for  such  school  record,  and  that  he  is 
able  to  read  and  write  simple  sentences  in  the  English  language 
and  has  received  during  such  period  instruction  in  reading,  writ- 
ing, spelling,  English  grammar  and  geography  and  is  familiar 
with  the  fundamental  operations  of  arithmetic  up  to  and  includ- 
ing fractions,  and  has  completed  the  work  prescribed  for  the  first 
six  years  of  the  public  elementary  school,  or  school  equivalent 
thereto,  or  parochial  school,  from  which  such  school  record  is 
issued.  Such  record  shall  also  give  the  date  of  birth  and  residence 
of  the  child,  as  shown  on  the  school  records,  and  the  name  of  the 
child's  parents,  guardian  or  custodian. 

§  2.  This  act  shall  take  effect  October  first,  nineteen  hundred 
and  thirteen. 


APPENDIX  T --  BILLS   SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

BILL  XO.  15. 

Ax  ACT 

To  AMEND  THE  LABOR  LAW,  ix  RELATION  TO  PROTECTING  THE 
HEALTH  AND  MORALS  OF  FEMALES  EMPLOYED  IN  FACTORIES 
BY  PROVIDING  AN  ADEQUATE  PERIOD  OF  REST  AT  XIGIIT. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly.,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Chapter  thixty-six  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred 
and  nine,  entitled  "An  act  relating  to  labor,  being  chapter  thirty- 
one  of  the  consolidated  laws,"  is  hereby  amended  by  inserting 
therein,  after  section  ninety-three-a,  a  new  section,  to  be  section 
ninety-three-b,  to  read  as  follows: 

§  93-b.  Period  of  rest  at  night  for  women.  In  order  to  protect 
the  health  and  morals  of  females  employed  in  factories  by  provid- 
ing an  adequate  period  of  rest  at  night  no  woman  shall  be  em- 
ployed or  permitted  to  work  in  any  factory  in  this  state  before  six 
o'clock  in  the  morning  or  after  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  any 
day. 

§  2.  This  act  shall  take  effect  July  first,  nineteen  hundred  and 
thirteen. 


BILL  MX  16. 

AN  ACT 

To  AMEND  TIIE  LABOR  LAW,,  IN  RELATION  TO  SEATS  IN  FACTORIES 
AND  OTHER  ESTABLISHMENTS  FOR  FEMALE  EMPLOYEES. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Section  seventeen  of  chapter  thirty-six  of  the  laws  of 
nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  entitled  "An  act  relating  to  labor, 
constituting  chapter  thirty-one  of  the  consolidated  laws,"  is  hereby 
amended  to  read  as  follows: 

§  17.  Seats  for  female  employees.  Every  person  employing 
females  in  a  factory  or  as  waitresses  in  a  hotel  or  restaurant  shall 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      367 

provide  and  maintain  suitable  seats,  with  proper  backs  where 
practicable,  for  the  use  of  such  female  employees,  and  permit  the 
use  thereof  by  such  employees  to  such  an  extent  as  may  be  reason- 
able for  the  preservation  of  their  health.  Where  females  are 
engaged  in  work  which  can  be  properly  performed  in  a  sitting 
posture,  suitable  seats,  with  backs  where  practicable,  shall  be  sup- 
plied in  every  factory  for  the  use  of  all  such  female  employees 
and  permitted  to  be  used  at  such  work.  The  industrial  board  may 
determine  when  seats,  with  or  without  backs,  are  necessary  and 
the  number  thereof. 

§  2.  This  act  shall  take  effect  October  first,  nineteen  hundred 
.and  thirteen. 


BILL  NO.  17. 

AN  ACT 
To  AMEND  THE  LABOR  LAW,  IN  RELATION  TO  BAKERIES. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Article  eight  of  chapter  thirty-six  of  the  laws  of 
nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  entitled  "An  act  relating  to  labor, 
constituting  chapter  thirty-one  of  the  consolidated  laws,"  as 
amended  by  chapter  six  hundred  and  thirty-seven  of  the  laws  of 
nineteen  hundred  and  eleven,  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as 
follows : 

ARTICLE  8. 

BAKERIES  AND  CONFECTIONERIES. 

Section  110.  [Hours  of  labor  in  bakeries  and  confectioneries.] 
Enforcement  of  article. 

111.  Definitions. 

112.  Geneiv1  requirements. 

113.  Maintenance. 

113a.  Prohibited  employment  of  diseased  bakers. 

114.  Inspection  of  bakeries. 


3G8      Arn:xr>ix  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

115.  Sanitary  certificates. 

116.  Prohibition  of  future  cellar  bakeries. 

111.  Sanitary  code  for  bakeries  and  confectioneries. 

§  110.  [Hours  of  labor  in  bakeries  and  confectioneries.  Xo 
employee  shall  be  required  or  permitted  to  work  in  a  biscuit, 
bread  or  cake  bakery  or  confectionery  establishment  more  than 
sixty  hours  in  any  one  week,  or  more  than  ten  hours  in  any  one 
day,  unless  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  shorter  work  day  on  the 
last  day  of  the  week;  nor  more  hours  in  any  one  week  than  will 
make  an  average  of  ten  hours  per  day  for  the  number  of  days 
during  such  week  in  which  such  employee  shall  work.]  Enforce- 
ment of  article.  In  every  city  of  the  first  class  the  health  depart- 
ment of  such  city  shall  have  exclusive  jurisdiction  to  enforce  the 
provisions  of  this  article.  In  the  application  of  any  provision  of 
this  article  to  any  city  of  the  first  class,  the  words  "  commissioner 
of  labor  "  or  "  department  of  labor  "  shall  be  understood  to  mean 
the  health  department  of  such  city. 

§  111.  Definitions.  All  buildings,  [or]  rooms[,]  or  places 
[except  kitchens  in  hotels  and  private  residences,]  used  or  occu- 
pied for  the  purpose  of  making,  preparing  or  baking  bread,  bis- 
cuits, pastry,  cakes,  doughnuts,  crullers,  noodles,  macaroni  or  spa- 
ghetti to  be  sold  or  consumed  on  or  off  the  premises,  except 
kitchens  in  hotels,  restaurants,  boarding  houses  or  private  resi- 
dences wherein  such  products  are  prepared  to  be  used  and  are 
used  exclusively  on  the  premises,  shall  for  the  purpose  of  this 
[act],  article  be  deemed  bakeries.  The  commissioner  of  labor 
shall  have  the  same  powers  with  respect  to  the  machinery,  safety 
devices  and  sanitary  conditions  in  hotel  bakeries  that  he  has  with 
respect  thereto  in  bakeries  as  defined  by  this  chapter.  In  cities  of 
the  first  class  the  health  department's  jurisdiction  over  hotel  bak- 
eries shall  not  extend  to  the  machinery  safety  devices  and  hours 
of  labor  of  employees  therein.  The  term  cellar  when  used  in 
this  article  shall  mean  a  room  or  a  part  of  a  building  which  is 
more  than  one-half  its  height  below  the  level  of  the  curb  or 
ground  adjoining  the  building  (excluding  areaways).  The  term 
owner  as  used  in  this  article  shall  be  construed  to  mean  the  owner 
or  owners  of  the  freehold  of  the  premises,  or  the  lessee  or  joint 
lessees  of  the  whole  thereof,  or  his,  her  or  their  agent  in  charge 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      369 

of  the  property.  The  term  occupier  shall  be  construed  to  mean 
the  person,  firm  or  corporation  in  actual  possession  of  the  prem- 
ises, who  either  himself  makes,  prepares  or  bakes  any  of  the  arti- 
cles mentioned  in  this  section,  or  hires  or  employs  others  to  do  it 
for  him.  Bakeries  are  factories  within  the  meaning  of  this  chapter, 
and  subject  to  all  the  provisions  of  article  six  hereof. 

§  112.  General  requirements.  All  bakeries  shall  be  provided 
with  proper  and  sufficient  drainage  and  with  suitable  sinks,  sup- 
plied with  clean  running  water  for  the  purpose  of  washing  and 
keeping  clean  the  utensils  and  apparatus  used  therein.  All 
bakeries  shall  be  provided  with  proper  and  adequate  windows, 
[or]  and  if  [deemed  necessary  by  the  commissioner  of  labor,] 
required  by  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  industrial  board,  with 
ventilating  hoods  and  pipes  over  ovens  and  ashpits,  or  with  other 
mechanical  means,  to  so  ventilate  same  as  to  render  harmless  to 
the  persons  working  therein  any  steam,  gases,  vapors,  dust,  exces- 
sive heat  or  any  impurities  that  may  be  generated  or  released  by 
or  in  the  process  of  making,  preparing  or  baking  in  said  bakeries. 
Every  bakery  shall  be  at  least  eight  feet  in  height  measured  from 
the  surface  of  the  finished  floor  to  the  under  side  of  the  ceiling, 
and  shall  have  a  flooring  of  even,  smooth  cement,  or  of  tiles  laid 
in  cement,  or  a  wooden  floor,  so  laid  and  constructed  as  to  be  free 
from  cracks,  holes  and  interstices,  except  that  any  cellar  or  base- 
ment less  than  eight  feet  in  height  which  was  used  for  a  bakery 
on  the  second  day  of  May,  eighteen  hundred  and  ninety-five,  need 
not  be  altered  to  conform  to  this  provision  with  respect  to  height ; 
the  side  walls  and  ceilings  shall  be  either  plastered,  ceiled  or 
wainscoted.  [The  furniture,  troughs  and  utensils  shall  be  so  ar- 
ranged and  constructed  as  not  to  prevent  their  cleaning  or  the 
cleaning  of  every  part  of  the  bakery.]  Every  bakery  shall  be  pro- 
vided with  a  sufficient  number  of  water-closets,  and  such  water- 
closets  shall  be  separate  and  apart  from  and  unconnected  with 
the  bakeroom  or  rooms  where  food  products  are  stored  or  sold. 

§  113.  Maintenance.  All  floors,  walls,  stairs,  shelves,  furni- 
ture, utensils,  yards,  areaways,  plumbing,  drains  and  sewers,  in 
or  in  connection  with  bakeries,  or  in  bakery  water-closets  and 
washrooms,  or  rooms  where  raw  materials  are  stored,  [and]  or 
in  rooms  where  the  manufactured  product  is  stored,  shall  at  all 

24 


370      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

times  be  kept  in  good  repair,  and  maintained  in  a  clean  and  sani- 
tary condition,  free  from  all  kinds  of  vermin.  All  interior  wood- 
work, walls  and  ceilings  shall  be  painted  or  limewashed  once 
every  three  months,  where  so  required  by  the  commissioner  of 
labor.  Proper  sanitary  receptacles  shall  be  provided  and  used 
for  storing  coal,  ashes,  refuse  and  garbage.  Receptacles  for 
refuse  and  garbage  shall  have  their  contents  removed  from  bak- 
eries daily  a.nd  shall  be  maintained  in  a  clean  and  sanitary  con- 
dition at  all  times ;  the  use  of  tobacco  in  any  form  in  a  bakery  or 
room  where  raw  material[s]  or  manufactured  product  of  such 
bakery  is  stored  is  prohibited.  Xo  person  shall  sleep,  or  be  per- 
mitted, allowed  or  suffered  to  sleep  in  a  bakery,  or  in  [a]  any 
room  where  raw  material£s  are  stored,]  or  [in  rooms  where] 
the  manufactured  product  of  such  bakery  is  stored  or  sold,  and  no 
domestic  animals  or  birds,  except  cats  shall  be  allowed  to  remain 
in  any  such  room.  Mechanical  means  of  ventilation,  when 
provided,  shall  be  effectively  used  and  operated.  Windows, 
doors  and  other  openings  shall  be  provided  with  proper 
screens.  All  employees,  while  engaged  in  the  manufacture  and 
handling  of  bread  shall  wear  slippers  or  shoes  and  suits  of  wash- 
able material  which  shall  be  used  for  that  purpose  only  and  such 
garments  shall  be  kept  clean  at  all  times.  Lockers  shall  be  pro- 
vided for  the  street  clothes  of  the  employees.  The  furniture, 
troughs  and  utensils  shall  be  so  arranged  and  constructed  as  not 
to  prevent  their  cleaning  or  the  cleaning  of  every  part  of  the 
bakery. 

§  113-a.  Prohibited  employment  of  diseased  bakers.  No  per- 
son who  has  any  communicable  disease  shall  work  or  be  permitted 
to  work  in  a  bakery.  Whenever  required  by  a  medical  inspector 
of  the  department  of  labor,  any  person  employed  in  a  bakery  shall 
submit  to  a  physical  examination  by  such  inspector.  No  person 
who  refuses  to  submit  to  such  examination  shall  work  or  be  per- 
mitted to  work  in  any  bakery. 

§  114.  Inspection  of  bakeries.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
owner  of  a  building  wherein  a  bakery  is  located  to  comply  with 
all  the  provisions  of  section  one  hundred  and  twelve  of  this  article, 
and  of  the  occupier  to  comply  with  all  the  provisions  of  section 
one  hundred  and  thirteen  of  this  article,  unless  by  the  terms  of  a 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      371 

valid  lease  the  responsibility  for  compliance  therewith  has  been 
undertaken  by  the  other  party  to  the  lease,  and  a  duplicate 
original  lease,  containing  such  obligation,  shall  have  been  pre- 
viously filed  in  the  office  of  the  commissioner  of  labor,  in  which 
event  the  party  assuming  the  responsibility  shall  be  responsible 
for  such  compliance.  The  commissioner  of  labor  may,  in  his 
discretion,  apply  any  or  all  of  the  provisions  of  this  article  to  a 
factory  located  in  a  cellar  wherein  any  food  product  is  manu- 
factured, provided  that  basements  or  cellars  used  as  confectionery 
or  ice-cream  manufacturing  shops  shall  not  be  required  to  con- 
form to  the  requirement  as  to  height  of  rooms.  Such  establish- 
ments shall  be  not  less  than  seven  feet  in  height,  except  that  any 
cellar  or  basement  so  used  before  October  first,  nineteen  hundred 
and  six,  which  is  more  than  six  feet  in  height  need  not  be  altered 
to  conform  to  this  provision.  If  on  inspection  the  commissioner 
of  labor  find  a  bakery  or  any  part  thereof  to  be  so  unclean,  ill- 
drained  or  ill-ventilated  as  to  be  unsanitary,  he  may,  after  not  less 
than  forty-eight  hours'  notice  in  writing,  to.  be  served  by  affixing 
the  notice  on  the  inside  of  the  main  entrance  door  of  said  bakery, 
order  the  person  found  in  charge  thereof  immediately  to  cease 
operating  it  until  it  shall  be  properly  cleaned,  drained  or  ven- 
tilated. If  such  bakery  be  thereupon  continued  in  operation  or 
be  thereafter  operated  before  it  be  properly  cleaned,  drained  or 
ventilated,  the  commissioner  of  labor  may,  after  first  making  and 
filing  in  the  public  records  of  his  office  a  written  order  stating  the 
reasons  therefor,  at  once  and  without  further  notice  fasten  up  and 
seal  the  oven  or  other  cooking  apparatus  of  said  bakery,  and 
affix  to  all  materials,  receptacles,  tools  and  instruments  found 
therein,  labels  or  conspicuous  signs  bearing  the  word  "  unclean." 
No  one  but  the  commissioner  of  labor  shall  remove  any  such  seal, 
label  or  sign,  and  he  may  refuse  to  remove  it  until  such  bakery 
be  properly  cleaned,  drained  or  ventilated. 

§  115.  Sanitary  certificates.  1.  No  person,  firm  or  corpora- 
tion shall  establish,  maintain  or  operate  a  bakery  without  obtain- 
ing a  sanitary  certificate  from  the  department  of  labor.  Applica- 
tion for  such  certificate  shall  be  made  to  the  commissioner  of 
labor  by  the  occupier  of  the  bakery  or  by  the  person,  firm  or 
corporation  desiring  to  establish  or  conduct  such  bakery.  The 


372      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

application  for  a  sanitary  certificate  shall  be  made  in  such  form 
and  shall  contain  such  information  as  the  commissioner  of  labor 
may  require.  Blank  applications  for  such  certificate  shall  be  pre- 
pared and  furnished  by  the  commissioner  of  labor. 

2.  Upon  the  receipt  of  such  application  for  a  sanitary  certifi- 
cate, the  commissioner  of  labor  shall  cause  an  inspection  to  be 
made  of  the  building,  room  or  place  described  in  the  application. 
If  the  bakery  conforms  to  the  provisions  of  articles  six  and  eight 
of  this  chapter  and  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  industrial 
board,  or  in  any  city  of  the  first  class  if  the  bakery  conforms  to 
the  provisions  of  article  eight  of  this  chapter,  and  to  the  sanitary 
code  and  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  department  of  health 
of  any  such  city,  the  commissioner  of  labor  shall  issue  a  sanitary 
certificate  for  such  bakery.     Such  certificate  shall  be  for  a  period 
of  one  year  and  shall  be  renewed  annually  by  the  commissioner 
of  labor  if  upon  a  reinspection  of  the  bakery  it  is  found  to  com- 
ply with  the  aforesaid  provisions  and  regulations.     Every  certifi- 
cate granted  under  tJie  provisions  of  this  chapter  shall  be  posted 
in  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  bakery  for  which  such  certificate  is 
issued. 

3.  Such  certificate  may  be  revoked  at  any  time  by  the-  com- 
missioner of  labor  if  the  health  of  the  community  or  of  the  em- 
ployees of  the  bakery  require  such  action,  or  if  an  order  of  the 
department  issued  under  the  provisions  of  this  chapter  be  not 
complied  with  within  fifteen  days  after  the  service  thereof  upon 
the  person,  firm  or  corporation  charged  with  the  duty  of  comply- 
ing with  such  order.     The  time  for  such  compliance  may  be  ex- 
tended by  the  commissioner  of  labor  for  good  cause  shown,  but  a 
statement  of  the  reasons  for  such  extension  shall  be  filed  in  the 
office  of  the  department  of  labor  as  part  of  the  public  records 
thereof.    Nothing  contained  in  this  subdivision  shall  be  construed 
to  limit  in  any  way  the  power  of  the  commissioner  of  labor  to  seal 
up  an  unsanitary  bakery  as  provided  in  section  one  hundred  and 
fourteen  of  this  chapter. 

4.  If  an  application  for  a  sanitary  certificate  be  denied  or  if 
such  certificate  be  revoked  by  the  commissioner  of  labor,  he  shall 
file  in  the  office  of  the  department  of  labor  as  part  of  the  public 


APPENDIX  1  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      373 

records  thereof,  a  statement  in  writing  setting  forth  in  detail  the 
reasons  for  such  denial  or  revocation. 

5.  Applications  for  sanitary  certificates  for  existing  bakeries 
shall  lye  made  within  four  months  after  this  act  takes  effect,  and 
no  such  bakery  shall  be  conducted  or  operated  without  a  sanitary 
certificate  from  the  department  of  labor  after  the  first  day   of 
January,  nineteen  hundred  and  fourteen.    In  the  case  of  bakeries 
hereafter  established,  the  application  for  a  sanitary  certificate 
shall  be  made  within  ten  days  after  such  bakery  shall  commence 
business,  and  no  such  bakery  shall  be  conducted  or  operated  with- 
out a  sanitary  certificate  for  more  than  thirty  days  after  com- 
mencing business. 

6.  //  a  bakery  has  no  sanitary  certificate  as  herein  required 
or  if  such  certificate  has  been  revoked,  the  commissioner  of  labor 
shall,  after  first  making  and  filing  in  the  public  records  of  his 
office  a  written  order  stating  the  reasons  therefor,  at  once  and 
without  further  notice  fasten  up  and  seal  the  oven  or  other  cook- 
ing apparatus  of  said  bakery.     No  one  but  the  commissioner  of 
labor  or  his  duly  authorized  representative  shall  remove  any  such 
seal,  and  he  shall  not  remove  same  until  a  sanitary  certificate  has 
been  issued  to  such  bakery. 

§  116.  Prohibition  of  future  cellar  bakeries.  No  bakery  shall 
hereafter  be  located  in  a  cellar,  and  a  sanitary  certificate  shall 
not  be  issued  for  any  bakery  so  located,  unless  such  bakery  shall 
be  at  least  ten  feet  in  height  measured  from  the  surface  of  the 
finished  floor  to  the  under  side  of  the  ceiling,  and  if  the  bakery 
is  located  or  intended  to  be  located  entirely  in  the  front  part  of 
the  building,  the  ceiling  of  the  bakery  shall  be  in  every  part  at 
least  four  feet  six  inches  above  the  curb  level  of  the  street  in 
front  of  the  building,  or  if  such  bakery  is  located  or  intended  to 
be  located  entirely  in  the  rear  part  of  the  building  or  to  extend 
from  the  front  to  the  rear,  the  ceiling  of  the  bakery  shall  be  not 
less  than  one  foot  above  the  curb  level  of  the  street  in  front  of 
the  building  and  the  bakery  shall  open  upon  a  yard  or  courts 
which  shall  extend  at  least  six  inches  below  the  floor  level  of  the 
bakery,  nor  unless  proper  and  adequate  provision  shall  be  made 
for  the  lighting  and  ventilation  of  such  bakery  and  for  the  proper 
construction  of  the  floor,  walls  and  ceiling  thereof,  and  plans  and 


374      APPENDIX  I -- BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

specifications  for  the  construction  and  establishment  of  such  bak- 
ery, in  such  form  and  covering  such  matters  as  the  commissioner 
of  labor  may  require,,  shall  have  been  first  submitted  to  and  ap- 
proved by  the  commissioner  of  labor.  This  prohibition  shall  not 
apply  to  a  cellar  used  and  operated  as  a  bakery  at  any  time  within 
one  year  prior  to  the  date  of  the  passage  of  this  act,  provided 
that  satisfactory  proof  of  its  use  as  a  bakery  as  herein  specified 
be  furnished  to  the  commissioner  of  labor  in  such  form  as  he  may 
require  within  six  months  after  this  act  shall  take  effect.  Upon 
receipt  of  such  proof  the  commissioner  of  labor  shall  issue  to  the 
owner  of  the  building  in  which  such  cellar  is  located,  a  certificate 
of  exemption.  This  section  shall  not  prevent  the  local  health 
authorities  in  any  city  of  the  first  class  from  exercising  any  power 
of  regulation  now  vested  in  them. 

§  117.  Sanitary  code  for  bakeries  and  confectioneries.  All 
factories  wherein  any  food  product  is  manufactured  shall  be  kept 
in  a  thoroughly  sanitary  condition  and  shall  be  properly  lighted 
and  ventilated,  and -all  necessary  methods  shall  be  employed  to 
protect  the  food  product  prepared  therein  from  contamination. 
The  industrial  board  may  adopt  rules  and  regulations  for  carrying 
into  effect  the  provisions  of  this  article.  Such  rules  and  regula- 
tions shall  be  known  as  the  sanitary  code  for  bakeries  and  con- 
fectioneries and  shall  not  apply  to  cities  of  the  first  class. 

§  2.  This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately. 


BILL  NO.  18. 

AN  ACT 

To  AMEND  THE  LABOR  LAW,  IN  RELATION  TO  CLEANLINESS  OF 
WORKROOMS  IN  FACTORIES. 

TJie  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Section  eighty-four  of  chapter  thirty-six  of  the  laws 
of  nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  entitled  "  An  act  relating  to  labor, 
constituting  chapter  thirty-one  of  the .  consolidated  laws,"  as 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      375 

amended  by  chapter  one  hundred  and  fourteen  of  the  laws  of  nine- 
teen hundred  and  ten,  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows : 

§  84.  [Walls,  ceilings,  floors  and  receptacles.J  Cleanliness  of 
rooms.  Every  room  in  a  factory  and  the  floors,  walls,  ceilings, 
windows  and  every  other  part  thereof  and  all  fixtures  therein  shall 
at  all  times  be  kept  in  a  clean  and  sanitary  condition.  The  walls 
and  ceilings  of  each  [work]  room  in  a  factory  shall  be  lime  washed 
or  painted,  except  when  properly  tiled  or  covered  with  slate  or 
marble  with  a  finished  surface  [when  in  the  opinion  of  the  com- 
missioner of  labor,  it  will  be  conducive  to  the  health  or  cleanli^ 
ness  of  the  persons  working  therein].  Such  lime  wash  or  paint 
shall  be  renewed  whenever  necessary  as  may  be  required  by  the 
commissioner  of  labor.  Floors  shall,  at  all  times,  be  maintained 
in  a  safe  condition  [and  shall  be  kept  clean  and  sanitary  at  all 
times].  No  person  shall  spit  or  expectorate  upon  the  walls,  floors 
or  stairs  of  any  building  used  in  whole  or  in  part  for  factory  pur- 
poses. Sanitary  cuspidors  shall-  be  provided  [in  the  discretion  of 
the  commissioner  of  labor],  in  every  workroom  in  a  factory  in 
[such]  sufficient  numbers  [as  the  commissioner  of  labor  may  de- 
termine]. Such  cuspidors  shall  be  thoroughly  cleaned  daily. 
Suitable  receptacles  shall  be  provided  and  used  for  the  storage  of 
waste  and  refuse;  such  receptacles  shall  be  maintained  in  a  sani- 
tary condition. 

§  2.  This  act  shall  take  effect  October  first,  nineteen  hundred 
and  thirteen. 


BILL  NO.  19. 

AN  ACT 
To  AMEND  THE  LABOR  LAW,  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  CLEAN,  SANI- 

TAEY   AND    SAFE    CONDITION    OF    FACTORY    BUILDINGS. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Article  six  of  chapter  thirty-six  of  the  laws  of  nine- 
teen hundred  and  nine,  entitled  "  An  act  relating  to  labor,  consti- 
tuting chapter  thirty-one  of  the  consolidated  laws,"  is  hereby 


376      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

amended  by  inserting,  after  section  eighty-four,  a  new  section, 
to  be  section  eighty-four-a,  to  read  as  follows: 

§  84-a.  Cleanliness  of  factory  buildings.  Every  part  of  a 
factory  building  and  of  the  premises  thereof  and  the  yards,  courts, 
passages,  areas  or  alleys  connected  with  or  belonging  to  the  same, 
shall  be  kept  clean,  and  shall  be  kept  free  from  any  accumulation 
of  dirt,  filth,  rubbish  or  garbage  in  or  on  the  same.  The  roof, 
passages,  stairs,  halls,  basements,  cellars,  privies,  water-closets, 
cesspools,  drains  and  all  other  parts  of  such  building  and  the  prem- 
ises thereof  shall  at  all  times  be  kept  in  a  clean,  sanitary  and  safe 
condition.  The  entire  building  and  premises  shall  be  well  drained 
and  the  plumbing  thereof  at  all  times  kept  in  proper  repair  and  in 
a  clean  and  sanitary  condition. 

§  2.  This  act  shall  take  effect  October  first,  nineteen  hundred 
and  thirteen. 


BILL  NO.  20. 

AN  ACT 

To  AMEND  THE  LABOR  LAW,  IN  RELATION  TO  VENTILATION  IK 
FACTORIES  AND  THE  REMOVAL  or  IMPURITIES  AND  OF  EX- 
CESSIVE HEAT  THEREIN. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Section  eighty-six  of  chapter  thirty-six  of  the  laws 
of  nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  entitled  "An  act  relating  to  labor, 
constituting  chapter  thirty-one  of  the  consolidated  laws,"  is  hereby 
amended  to  read  as  follows : 

§  86.  Ventilation.  1.  The  owner,  agent  or  lessee  of  [aj 
every  factory  shall  provide,  in  each  work  room  thereof,  proper  and 
sufficient  means  of  ventilation  by  natural  or  mechanical  means  or 
both,  as  may  be  necessary,  and  shall  maintain  proper  and  sufficient 
ventilation  and  proper  degrees  of  temperature  and  humidity  in 
every  workroom  thereof  at  all  times  during  working  hours.  [ ;  if 
excessive  heat  be  created  or  if  steam,  gases,  vapors,  dust  or  other 
impurities  that  may  be  injurious  to  health  be  generated  in  the 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      377 

course  of  the  manufacturing  process  carried  on  therein  the  room 
must  be  ventilated  in  such  a  manner  as  to  render  them  harmless, 
so  far  as  is  practicable;  in  case  of  failure  the  commissioner  of 
labor  shall  order  such  ventilation  to  be  provided.  Such  owner, 
agent  or  lessee  shall  provide  such  ventilation  within  twenty  days 
after  the  service  upon  him  of  such  order,  and  in  case  of  failure, 
shall  forfeit  to  the  people  of  the  state,  ten  dollars  for  each  day 
after  the  expiration  of  such  twenty  days,  to  be  recovered  by  the 
commissioner  of  labor.  J 

2.  //  dust,  gases,  fumes,  vapors,  fibers  or  other  impurities  are 
generated  or  released  in  the  course  of  the  business  carried  on  in 
any  workroom  of  a  factory,  in  quantities  tending  to  injure  the 
health  of  the  operatives,  the  person  operating  the  factory,  whether 
as  owner  or  lessee  of  the  whole  or  of  a  part  of  the  building  in 
which  the  same  is  situated,  or  otherwise,  shall  provide  suction  de- 
vices that  shall  remove  said  impurities  from  the  workroom,  at  their 
point  of  origin  where  practicable,  by  means  of  proper  hoods  con- 
nected to  conduits  and  exhaust  fans  of  sufficient  capacity  to  re- 
move such  impurities,  and  such  fans  shall  be  kept  running  con- 
stantly while  such  impurities  are  being  generated  or  released.     If, 
owing  to  the  nature  of  the  manufacturing  process  carried  on  in  a 
factory  workroom,  excessive  heat  be  created  therein  the  person  or 
persons  operating  the  factory  as  aforesaid  shall  provide,  main- 
tain, use  and  operate  such  special  means  or  appliances  as  may  be 
required  to  reduce  such  excessive  heat. 

3.  The  industrial  board  shall  have  power  to  make  rules  and  reg- 
ulations for  and  fix  standards  of  ventilation,  temperature  and 
humidity  in  factories  and  may  prescribe  the  special  means,  if  any, 
required  for  removing  impurities  or  for  reducing  excessive  heat, 
and  the  machinery,  apparatus  or  appliances  to  be  used  for  any  of 
said  purposes,  and  the  construction,  equipment,  maintenance  and 
operation   thereof,  in   order   to  effectuate  the  purposes   of   this 
section. 

4.  //  any  requirement  of  this  section  or  any  rule  or  regulation 
of  the  industrial  board  made  under  the  provisions  thereof  shall  not 
be  complied  with,  the  commissioner  of  labor  shall  issue  or  cause  to 
be  issued  an  order  directing  compliance  therewith  by  the  person 


378      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

whose  duty  it  is  to  comply  therewith  within  thirty  days  after  the 
service  of  such  order.  Sucli  person  shall,  in  case  of  failure  to 
comply  with  the  requirements  of  such  order,  forfeit  to  the  people 
of  the  state  fifteen  dollars  for  each  day  during  which  such  failure 
shall  continue  after  the  expiration  of  such  thirty  days,  to  be  recov~ 
ered  by  the  commissioner  of  labor.  The  liability  to  such  penalty 
shall  be  in  addition  to  the  liability  of  such  person  to  prosecution 
for  a  misdemeanor  as  provided  by  section  twelve  hundred  and 
seventy-five  of  the  penal  law. 

5.  When  the  commissioner  of  labor  shall  issue,  or  cause  to  be 
issued,  an  order  specified  in  subdivision  four  hereof,  he  may  in 
such  order  require  plans  and  specifications  to  be  filed  for  any 
machinery  or  apparatus  to  be  provided  or  altered,  pursuant  to  the 
requirements  of  such  order.  In  such  case,  before  providing,  or 
making  any  change  or  alteration  in  any  machinery  or  apparatus 
for  any  of  the  purposes  specified  in  this  section,  the  person  upon 
whom  such  order  is  served  shall  file  with  the  commissioner  of 
labor  plans  and  specifications  therefor,  and  shall  obtain  the 
approval  of  such  plans  and  specifications  by  the  commissioner  of 
labor  before  providing  or  making  any  change  or  alteration  in  any 
such  machinery  or  apparatus.  ' 

§  2.  This  act  shall  take  effect  October  first,  nineteen  hundred 
and  thirteen. 


BILL  TO.  21. 

AN  ACT 

To    AMEND   THE   LABOR    LAW,    IN    RELATION    TO    WASHROOMS,, 
DRESSING  ROOMS  AND  WATER  CLOSETS  IN  FACTORIES. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  Xew  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Section  eighty-eight  of  chapter  thirty-six  of  the  laws 
of  nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  entitled  "An  act  relating  to  labor, 
constituting  chapter  thirty-one  of  the  consolidated  laws,"  as 
amended  by  chapter  three  hundred  and  thirty-six  of  the  laws 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      379 

of  nineteen  hundred  and  twelve,  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as 
follows : 

§  88.  Drinking  water,  washrooms  and  dressing  rooms  [and 
water  closets].  1.  In  every  factory  there  shall  be  provided  at  all 
times  for  the  use  of  employees,  a  sufficient  supply  of  clean  and 
pure  drinking  water.  Such  water  shall  be  supplied  through 
proper  pipe  connections  with  water  mains  through  which  is  con- 
veyed the  water  used  for  domestic  purposes,  or,  from  a  spring  or 
well  or  body  of  pure  water ;  if  such  drinking  water  be  placed  in 
receptacles  in  the  factory,  such  receptacles  shall  be  properly  cov- 
ered to  prevent  contamination  and  shall  be  thoroughly  cleaned  at 
frequent  intervals. 

2.  In  every  factory  there  shall  be  provided  and  maintained  for 
the  use  of  employees  suitable  and  convenient  washrooms,  separate 
for  each  sex,  adequately  equipped  with  [sinks  and  proper  water 
service;  and]  washing  facilities  consisting  of  sinks  or  stationary 
basins  provided  with  running  water  or  with  tanks  holding  an  ade- 
quate supply  of  clean  water.    Every  washroom  shall  be  provided 
with  means  for  artificial  illumination  and  with  adequate  means  of 
ventilation.     All  washrooms  and  washing  facilities  shall  be  con- 
structed,  lighted,   heated,   ventilated,  arranged   and  maintained 
according  to  rules  and  regulations  adopted  with  reference  thereto 
by  the  industrial  board.    [i]^n  all  factories  where  lead,  arsenic  or 
other  poisonous  substances  or  injurious  or  noxious  fumes,  dust  or 
gases  are  present  as  an  incident  or  result  of  the  business  or  pro- 
cesses conducted  by  such  factory  there  shall  be  provided  washing 
facilities  which  shall  include  hot  water  and  soap  and  individual 
towels. 

3.  Where  females  are  employed,  dressing  or  emergency  rooms 
shall  be  provided  for  their  use ;  each  such  room  shall  have  at  least 
one  window  opening  to  the  outer  air  and  shall  be  enclosed  by 
means  of  solid  partitions  or  walls.     [In  brass  and  iron  foundries 
suitable  provisions  shall  be  made  and  maintained  for  drying  the 
working  clothes  of  persons  employed  therein.     In  every  factory 
there  shall  be  provided  suitable  and  convenient  water  closets  for 
each  sex,  in  such  number  as  the  commissioner  of  labor  may  deter- 
mine.     Such  water  closets  shall  be  properly  screened,   lighted, 
ventilated  and  kept  clean  and  sanitary;   the  enclosure  of  each 


380      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

closet  shall  be  kept  clean  and  sanitary  and  free  from  all  obscene 
writing  or  marking.  The  water  closets  used  by  females  shall 
be  entirely  separated  from  those  used  by  males  and  the  entrances 
thereto  shall  be  effectively  screened.  The  water  closets  shall  be 
maintained  inside  the  factory  whenever  practicable  and  in  all 
cases,  when  required  by  the  commissioner  of  labor.]  In  every 
factory  in  which  more  than  ten  women  are  employed,  there  shall 
be  provided  one  or  more  separate  dressing  rooms  in  such  num- 
bers as  required  by  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  industrial 
board  and  located  in  such  place  or  places  as  required  by  such  rules 
and  regulations,  having  an  adequate  floor  space  in  proportion  to 
the  number  of  employees,  to  be  fixed  by  the  rules  and  regulations 
of  the  industrial  board,  but  the  floor  space  of  every  such  dressing 
room  shall  in  no  event  be  less  than  sixty  square  feet;  each  dress- 
ing room  shall  be  separated  from  any  water  closet  compartment 
by  adequate  partitions  and  shall  be  provided  with  adequate  means 
for  artificial  illumination;  each  dressing  room  shall  be  provided 
with  suitable  means  for  hanging  clothes  and  with  a  suitable  num- 
ber of  seats.  All  dressing  rooms  shall  be  enclosed  by  means  of 
solid  partitions  or  walls,  and  shall  be  constructed,  heated,  venti- 
lated, lighted  and  maintained  in  accordance  with  such  rules  and 
regulations  as  may  be  adopted  by  the  industrial  board  with  refer- 
ence thereto. 

§  2.  Such  chapter  is  hereby  amended  by  inserting  after  sec- 
tion eighty-eight  a  new  section,  to  be  section  eighty-eight-a,  to  read 
as  follows : 

§  88-a.  Water  closets.  1.  In  every  factory  there  shall  be  pro- 
vided suitable  and  convenient  water  closets  separate  for  each  sex, 
in  such  number  and  located  in  such  place  or  places  as  required  by 
the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  industrial  board.  All  water 
closets  shall  be  maintained  inside  the  factory  except  where,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  commissioner  of  labor,  it  is  impracticable  to  do  so. 

2.  There  shall  be  separate  water  closet  compartments  for  fe- 
males, to  be  used  by  them  exclusively,  and  notice  to  that  effect 
shall  be  painted  on  the  outside  of  such  compartments.  The 
entrance  to  every  water  closet  used  by  females  shall  be  effectively 
screened  by  a  partition  or  vestibule.  Where  water  closets  for 
males  and  females  are  in  adjoining  compartments.,  there  sliall  be 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATUEE.      381 

solid  plastered  or  metal  covered  partitions  between  the  compart- 
ments extending  from  the  floor  to  the  ceiling.  Whenever  any, 
water  closet  compartments  open  directly  into  the  workroom  ex- 
posing the  interior,  they  shall  be  screened  from  view  by  a  parti- 
tion or  a  vestibule.  The  use  of  curtains  for  screening  purposes  is 
prohibited. 

3.  The  use  of  any  form  of  trough  water  closet,  latrine  or  school 
sink  within  any  factory  is  prohibited.     All  such  trough   water 
closets,  latrines  or  school  sinks  shall,  before  the  first  of  October, 
nineteen  hundred  and  fourteen,  be  completely  removed  and  the 
place  where  they  were  located  properly  disinfected  under  the  di- 
rection of  the  department  of  labor.    Such  appliances  shall  be  re- 
placed by  proper  individual  water  closets,  placed  in  water  closet 
compartments,  all  of  which  shall  be  constructed  and  installed  in 
accordance  with  rules  and  regulations  to  be  adopted  by  the  indus- 
trial board. 

4.  Every  existing  water  closet  and  urinal  inside  any  factory 
shall  have  a  basin  of  enameled  iron  or  earthenware,  and  shall  be 
flushed  from  a  separate  water-supplied  cistern  or  through  a  flusho- 
meter  valve  connected  in  such  manner  as  to  keep  the  water  supply 
of  the  factory  free  from  contamination.    All  woodwork  enclosing 
water  closet  fixtures  shall  be  removed  from  the  front  of  the  closet 
and  the  space  underneath  the  seat  shall  be  left  open.    The  floor  or 
other  surface  beneath  and  around  the  closet  shall  be  maintained 
in  good  order  and  repair  and  all  the  woodwork  shall  be  kept  well 
painted  with  a  light-color  paint.     All  existing  water  closet  com- 
partments shall  have  windows  leading  to  the  outer  air  and  shall  be 
otherwise  ventilated  in  accordance   with  rules  and  regulations 
adopted  for  that  purpose  by  the  industrial  board.    Such  compart- 
ments shall  be  provided  with  means  for  artificial  illumination 
and  the  enclosure  of  each  compartment  shall  be  kept  free  from 
all  obscene  writing  or  marking. 

5.  All  water  closets,  urinals  and  water  closet  compartments 
hereafter  installed  in  a  factory,  including  those  provided  to  re- 
place existing  fixtures,  shall  be  properly  constructed,  installed, 
ventilated,  lighted  and  maintained  in  accordance  with  such  rules 
and  regulations  as  may  be  adopted  by  the  industrial  board. 


382      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

6.  All  water  closet  compartments,  and  the  floors,  walls,  ceilings 
and  surface  thereof,  and  all  fixtures  therein,  and  all  water  closets 
and  urinals  shall  at  all  times  be  kept  and  maintained  in  a  clean 
and  sanitary  condition.     Where  the  water  supply  to  water  closets 
or  urinals  is  liable  to  freeze,  the  water  closet  compartment  shall 
be  properly  heated  so  as  to  prevent  freezing,  or  the  supply  and 
flush  pipes,  cisterns  and  traps  and  valves  shall  be  effectively  cov- 
ered with  wool  felt  or  hair  felt,  or  other  adequate  covering. 

7.  All  water  closets  shall  be  constructed,  lighted,  ventilated, 
arranged   and   maintained   according    to    rules   and   regulations 
adopted  with  reference  thereto  by  the  industrial  board. 

§  3.    This  act  shall  take  effect  October  first,  nineteen  hundred 
and  thirteen. 


BILL  No.  22. 

AN  ACT 

To  AMEND  THE  LABOR  LAW,  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  PROTECTION 
OF  EMPLOYEES  OPERATING  MACHINERY,  DUST-CREATING 
MACHINERY,  AND  THE  LIGHTING  OF  FACTORIES  AND  WORK- 
ROOMS. 

The  People  of  Hie  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Section  eighty-one  of  chapter  thirty-six  of  the  laws 
of  nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  entitled  "An  act  relating  to  labor, 
constituting  chapter  thirty-one  of  the  consolidated  laws,"  as 
amended  by  chapter  one  hundred  and  six  of  the  laws  of  nineteen 
hundred  and  ten,  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows : 

§  81.  Protection  of  employees  operating  machinery;  dust-creat- 
ing machinery;  lighting  of  factories  and  workrooms.  1.  The 
owner  or  person  in  charge  of  a  factory  where  machinery  is  used 
shall  provide,  [in  the  discretion  of  the  commissioner  of  labor] 
as  may  be  required  by  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  industrial 
board,  belt  shifters  or  other  mechanical  contrivances  for  the  pur- 
pose of  throwing  on  or  off  belts  on  pulleys.  Whenever  practicable, 
all  machinery  shall  be  provided  with  loose  pulleys.  [All  vats, 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      383 

pans,  saws,  planers,  cogs,  gearing,  belting,  shafting,  set-screws  and 
machinery,  of  every  description,  shall  be  guarded.]  Every 
vat  and  pan  wherever  set  so  that  the  opening  or  top  thereof 
is  at  a  lower  level  than  the  elbow  of  the  operator  or  operators  at 
work  about  the  same  shall  be  protected  by  a  cover  which  shall  be 
maintained  over  the  same  while  in  use  in  such  manner  as  effectu- 
ally to  prevent  such  operators  or  other  persons  falling  therein  or 
coming  in  contact  with  the  contents  thereof,  except  that  where  it 
is  necessary  to  remove  such  cover  while  any  such  vat  or  pan  is  in 
use,  such  vat  or  pan  shall  be  protected  by  an  adequate  railing 
around  the  same.  Every  hydro-extractor  shall  be  covered  or  other- 
wise properly  guarded  while  in  motion.  Every  saw  shall  be  pro- 
vided with  a  proper  and  effective  guard.  Every  planer  shall  be 
protected  by  a  substantial  hood  or  covering.  Every  hand-planer  or 
jointer  shall  be  provided  with  a  proper  and  effective  guard.  All 
cogs  and  gearing  shall  be  boxed  or  cased  either  with  metal  or 
wood.  All  belting  within  seven  feet  of  the  floors  shall  be  properly 
guarded.  All  revolving  shafting  within  seven  feet  of  the  floors 
shall  be  protected  on  its  exposed  surface  by  being  encased  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  effectually  prevent  any  part  of  the  body,  hair  or 
clothing  of  the  operators  or  other  persons  from  coming  in  contact 
with  such  shafting.  All  set-screws,  keys,  bolts  and  all  parts  pro- 
jecting beyond  the  surface  of  revolving  shafting  shall  be  counter- 
sunk or  provided  with  suitable  covering,  and  machinery  of  every 
description  shall  be  properly  guarded  and  provided  with  proper 
safety  appliances  or  devices.  All  machines,  machinery,  appar- 
atus, furniture  and  fixtures  shall  be  so  placed  and  guarded  in  rela- 
tion to  one  another  as  to  be  safe  for  all  persons.  Whenever  any 
danger  exists  which  requires  any  special  care  as  to  the  character 
and  condition  of  the  clothing  of  the  persons  employed  there- 
abouts, or  which  requires  the  use  of  special  clothing  or  guards, 
the  industrial  board  may  make  rules  and  regulations  prescribing 
what  shall  be  used  or  worn  for  the  purpose  of  guarding  against 
such  danger  and  regulating  the  provision,  maintenance  and  use 
thereof.  ~No  person  shall  remove  or  make  ineffective  any  safe- 
guard or  safety  appliance  or  device  around  or  attached  to  ma- 
chinery, vats  or  pans,  [while  the  same  are  in  use  unless  for  the 
purpose  of  immediately  making  repairs  thereto  or  adjustment 


384      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

thereof,  [and  all  such  safeguards  so  removed  shall  be  promptly 
replaced]  and  any  person  who  removes  or  makes  ineffective  any 
such  safeguard,  safety  appliance  or  device  for  a  permitted  purpose 
shall  immediately  replace  the  same  when  such  purpose  is  accom- 
plished. It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  employer  and  of  every  person 
exercising  direction  or  control  over  the  person  who  removes  such 
safeguard,  safety  appliance  or  device,  or  over  any  person  for 
whose  protection  it  is  designed  to  see  that  a  safeguard  or  safety 
appliance  or  device  that  has  been  removed  is  promptly  and  prop- 
erly replaced.  All  fencing,  safeguards,  safety  appliances  and 
devices  must  be  constantly  maintained  in  proper  condition.  [If] 
When  in  the  opinion  of  the  commissioner  of  labor  a  machine  or 
any  part  thereof  is  in  a  dangerous  condition  or  is  not  properly 
guarded  or  is  dangerously  placed,  the  use  thereof  [may]  shall 
be  prohibited  by  the  commissioner  of  labor  and  a  notice  to  that 
effect  shall  be  attached  thereto.  Such  notice  shall  not  be  removed 
except  by  an  authorized  representative  of  the  department  of  labor, 
nor  until  the  machinery  is  made  safe  and  the  required  safe- 
guards or  safety  appliances  or  devices  are  provided,  and  in  the 
meantime  such  unsafe  or  dangerous  machinery  shall  not  be  used. 
The  industrial  board  may  make  rules  and  regulations  regulating 
the  installation,  position,  operation,  guarding  and  use  of  machines 
and  machinery  in  operation  in  factories,  the  furnishing  and  use 
of  safety  devices  and  safety  appliances  for  machines  and  ma- 
chinery and  of  guards  to  be  worn  upon  the  person,  and  other  cog- 
nate matters,  whenever  it  finds  such  regulations  necessary  in  order 
to  provide  for  the  prevention  of  accidents  in  factories. 

2.  All  grinding,  polishing  or  buffing  wheels  used  in  the  course 
of  the  manufacture  of  articles  of  the  baser  metals  shall  be 
equipped  with  proper  hoods  and  pipes  and  such  pipes  shall  be 
connected  to  an  exhaust  fan  of  sufficient  capacity  and  power  to 
remove  all  matter  thrown  off  such  wheels  in  the  course  of  their 
use.  Such  fan  shall  be  kept  running  constantly  while  such  grind- 
ing, polishing  or  buffing  wheels  are  in  operation;  except  that  in 
the  case  of  wet-grinding  it  is  unnecessary  to  comply  with  this 
provision  unless  required  by  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  in- 
dustrial board.  All  machinery  creating  dust  or  impurities  shall 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATUBE.     385 

be  equipped  with  proper  hoods  and  pipes  and  such  pipes  shall  be 
connected  to  an  exhaust  fan  of  sufficient  capacity  and  power  to 
remove  such  dust  or  impurities;  such  fan  shall  be  kept  running 
constantly  while  such  machinery  is  in  use ;  except  where,  in  case 
of  wood-working  machinery,  the  [commissioner  of  labor,  after 
first  making  and  filing  in  the  public  records  of  his  office  a  written 
statement  of  the  reasons  therefor,]  industrial  board  shall  decide 
that  it  is  unnecessary  for  the  health  and  welfare  of  the  operatives. 

3.  All  passageways  and  other  portions  of  a  factory,  and  all 
moving  parts  of  machinery  which  are  not  so  guarded  as  to  prevent 
accidents,  where,  on  or  about  which  persons  work  or  pass  or  may 
have  to  work  or  pass  in  emergencies,  shall  be  kept  properly  and 
sufficiently  lighted  during  working  hours.    [When,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  commissioner  of  labor,  it  is  necessary]  The  [workrooms] 
halls  and  stairs  leading  to  the  workrooms  shall  be  properly  and 
adequately  lighted,  and  [in  cities  of  the  first  class,  if  deemed 
necessary  by  the  commissioner  of  labor,]  a  proper  and  adequate 
light  shall  be  kept  burning  by  the  owner  or  lessee  in  the  public 
hallways  near  the  stairs,  upon  the  entrance  floor  and  upon  the 
other  floors  on  every  workday  in  the  year,  from  the  time  when 
the  building  is  open  for  use  in  the  morning  until  the  time  it  is 
closed  in  the  evening,  except  at  times  when  the  influx  of  natural 
light  shall  make  artificial  light  unnecessary.     Such  lights  shall 
be  [independent  of  the  motive  power  of  such  factory]  so  arranged 
as  to  insure  their  reliable  operation  when  through  accident  or 
other  cause  the  regular  factory  lighting  is  extinguished. 

4.  All  workrooms  shall  be  properly  and  adequately  lighted 
during  working  hours.    Artificial  illuminants  in  every  workroom 
shall  be  installed,  arranged  and  used  so  that  the  light  furnished 
will  at  all  times  be  sufficient  and  adequate  for  the  work  carried  on 
therein,  and  so  as  to  prevent  unnecessary  strain  on  the  vision  or 
glare  in  the  eyes  of  the  workers.    The  industrial  board  may  make, 
rules  and  regulations  to  provide  for  adequate  and  sufficient  natural 
and  artificial  lighting  facilities  in  all  factories. 

§  2.    This  act  shall  take  effect  October  first,  nineteen  hundred 
and  thirteen. 

25 


386      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

BILL  No.  23. 

AN  ACT 

To  AMEND  THE  LABOR  LAW,  IN  RELATION  TO  ELEVATORS  AND 
HOISTING  SHAFTS  IN  FACTORY  BUILDINGS. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Section  seventy-nine  of  chapter  thirty-six  of  the  laws 
of  nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  entitled  "  An  act  relating  to  labor, 
constituting  chapter  thirty-one  of  the  consolidated  laws,"  as 
amended  by  chapter  two  hundred  and  ninety-nine  of  the  laws  of 
nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows : 

§  79.  [Inclosure  and  operation  of  eJ.E'levators  and  hoistways. 
[Hoisting  shafts;  inspection.  If,  in  the  opinion  of  the  commis- 
sioner of  labor,  it  is  necessary  to  protect  the  life  or  limbs  of 
factory  employees,  the  owner,  agent  or  lessee  of  such  factory 
where  an  elevator,  hoisting  shafts  or  well-hole  is  used,  shall  cause, 
upon  written  notice  from  the  commissioner  of  labor,  the  same  to 
be  properly  and  substantially  inclosed,  secured  or  guarded,  and 
shall  provide  such  proper  traps  or  automatic  doors  so  fastened 
in  or  at  all  elevator  ways,  except  passenger  elevators,  inclosed  on 
all  sides,  as  to  form  a  substantial  surface  when  closed  and  so  con- 
structed as  to  open  and  close  by  action  of  the  elevator  in  its 
passage  either  ascending  or  descending.  The  commissioner  of 
labor  may  inspect  the  cable,  gearing  or  other  apparatus  of  eleva- 
tors in  factories  and  require  them  to  be  kept  in  a  safe  condition.] 
1.  Inclosure  of  shafts.  Every  hoistiuay,  hatchway  or  well-hole 
used  for  carrying  passengers  or  employees,  or  for  freight  elevators, 
hoisting  or  other  purpose,  shall  be  protected  on  all  sides  at  each 
floor  including  the  basement,  by  substantial  vertical  inclosures. 
All  openings  in  such  inclosures  shall  be  provided  with  self-closing 
gates  not  less  than  six  feet  high  or  with  properly  constructed 
sliding  doors.  In  the  case  of  elevators  used  for  carrying  passengers 
or  employees,  such  inclosures  shall  be  flush  with  the  hatchway  and 
shall  extend  from  floor  to  ceiling  on  every  open  side  of  the  car, 
and  on  every  other  side  shall  be  at  least  six  feet  high,  and  such 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      387 

enclosures  shall  be  free  from  fixed  obstructions  on  every  open 
side  of  the  car.  In  the  case  of  freight  elevators  the  enclosures 
shall  be  flush  with  the  hoistway  on  every  open  side  of  the  car. 
In  place  of  the  inclosures  herein  required  for  freight  elevators, 
every  hatchway  used  for  freight  elevator  purposes  may  be  pro- 
vided with  trap  doors  so  constructed  as  to  form  a  substantial  floor 
surface  when  closed  and  so  arranged  as  to  open  and  close  by  the 
action  of  the  car  in  its  passage  both  ascending  and  descending; 
provided  that  in  addition  to  such  trap  doors,  the  hatchway  shall 
be  adequately  protected  on  all  sides  at  all  floors,  including  the 
basement,  by  a  substantial  railing  or  other  vertical  inclosure  at 
least  three  feet  in  height. 

2.  Guarding  of  elevators  and  hoistways.    All  counter-weights  of 
every  elevator  shall  be  adequately  protected  by  proper  inclosures 
at  the  top  and  bottom  of  the  run.    The  car  of  all  elevators  used 
for  carrying  passengers  or  employees  shall  be  substantially  en- 
closed on  all  sides,  including  the  top,  and  such  car  shall  at  all 
times  be  properly  lighted,  artificial  illuminants  to  be  provided  and 
used  when  necessary.     The  top  of  every  freight  elevator  car  or 
platform  shall  be  provided  with  a  substantial  grating  or  covering 
for  the  protection  of  the  operator  thereof,  in  accordance  with 
such  rules  and  regulations  as  may  be  adopted  with  reference 
thereto  by  the  industrial  board. 

3.  Elevators   and   hoistways   in   factory    buildings    hereafter, 
erected.     The  provisions  of  subdivisions  one  and  two  of  this  sec-1 
tion  shall  apply  only  to  factory  buildings  heretofore  erected.     In 
all  factory  buildings  hereafter  erected,  every  elevator  and  every 
part  thereof  and  all  machinery  connected  therewith  and  every 
hoistway,  hatchway  and  well-hole  shall  be  so  constructed,  guarded, 
equipped,  maintained  and  operated  as  to  be  safe  for  all  persons 
using  the  same. 

4.  Maintenance  of  elevators  and  hoistways  in  all  factory  build- 
ings.    In  every  factory  building  heretofore  erected  or  hereafter 
erected,  all  inclosures,  doors  and  gates  of  hoistways,  hatchways  or 
well-hole,  and  all  elevators  therein  used  for  the  carrying  of  pas- 
sengers or  employees  or  freight,  and  the  gates  and  doors  thereof 
shall  at  all  times  be  kept  in  good  repair  and  in  a  safe  condition. 
All  openings  leading  to  elevators  snail  be  kept  well  lighted  at  all 


388      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

times  during  working  hours,  with  artificial  illumination  when 
necessary.  The  cable,  gearing  and  other  apparatus  of  elevators 
used  for  carrying  passengers  or  employees  or  freight  shall  be  kept 
in  a  safe  condition. 

5.  Powers  of  industrial  board.  The  industrial  board  shall  have, 
power  to  make  rules  and  regulations  not  inconsistent  with  the 
provisions  of  this  chapter  regulating  the  construction,  guarding, 
equipment,  maintenance  and  operation  of  elevators  and  all  parts 
thereof,  and  all  machinery  connected  therewith  and  hoist  ways, 
hatchways  and  well-holes,  in  order  to  carry  out  the  purpose  and 
intention  of  this  section. 

§  2.  This  act  shall  take  effect  October  first,  nineteen  hundred 
and  thirteen. 


BILL  No.  24. 

Ax  ACT 

To  AMEND  THE  LABOR  LAW,  IN  RELATION  TO  PROTECTING  THE 
LIVES,,  HEALTH  AND  SAFETY  OF  EMPLOYEES  IN  DANGEROUS 
TRADES. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Chapter  thirty-six  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred 
and  nine,  entitled  "An  act  relating  to  labor,  constituting  chapter 
thirty-one  of  the  consolidated  laws,"  is  hereby  amended  by  insert- 
ing therein,  after  section  ninety-eight,  a  new  section  to  be  section 
ninety-nine,  to  read  as  follows: 

§  99.  Dangerous  trades.  Whenever  the  industrial  board  shall 
find  as  a  result  of  its  investigations  that  any  industry,  trade  or 
occupation  by  reason  of  the  nature  of  the  materials  used  therein 
or  the  products  thereof  or  by  reason  of  the  methods  or  processes  or 
machinery  or  apparatus  employed  therein  or  by  reason  of  any 
other  matter  or  thing  connected  with  such  industry,  trade  or  occu- 
pation, contains  such  elements  of  danger  to  the  lives,  health  or 
safety  of  persons  employed  therein  as  to  require  special  regulation 
for  the  protection  of  such  persons  said  board  shall  have  power  to 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      389 

make  such  special  rules  and  regulations  as  it  may  deem  necessary 
to  guard  against  such  elements  of  danger  by  establishing  require- 
ments as  to  temperature,  humidity,  the  removal  of  dusts,  gases  or 
fumes  and  requiring  licenses  to  be  applied  for  and  issued  by  the 
commissioner  of  labor  as  a  condition  of  carrying  on  any  such 
industry,  trade  or  occupation  and  requiring  medical  inspection 
and  supervision  of  persons  employed  and  applying  for  employ- 
ment and  by  other  appropriate  means. 

§  2.   This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately. 


BILL  No.  25. 

AN  ACT 
To  AMEND  THE  LABOR  LAW,  IN  RELATION  TO  FOUNDRIES. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Chapter  thirty-six  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred 
and  nine,  entitled  "  An  act  relating  to  labor,  constituting  chapter 
thirty-one  of  the  consolidated  laws,"  is  hereby  amended  by  insert- 
ing therein,  after  section  ninety-six,  a  new  section,  to  be  section 
ninety-seven,  to  read  as  follows: 

§  97.  Brass,  iron  and  steel  foundries.  1.  Foundries  shall  be 
subject  to  all  the  provisions  of  this  chapter  relating  to  factories. 

2.  All  entrances  to  foundries  shall  be  so  constructed  and  main- 
tained as  to  minimize  drafts,  and  all  windows  therein  shall  be 
maintained  in  proper  condition  and  repair. 

3.  All  gangways  in  foundries  shall  be  constructed  and  main- 
tained of  sufficient  width  to  make  the  use  thereof  by  employees 
reasonably  safe;  during  the  progress  of  casting  such  gangway  $ 
shall  not  be  obstructed  in  any  manner. 

4.  Smoke,  steam  and  gases  generated  in  foundries  shall  be 
effectively  removed  therefrom,  in  accordance  with  such  rules  and 
regulations  as  may  be  adopted  with  reference  thereto  by  the  indus- 


390      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

trial  board,  and  whenever  required  by  the  regulations  of  such 
board,  exhaust  fans  of  sufficient  capacity  and  power,  properly 
equipped  with  ducts  and  hoods,  shall  be  provided  and  operated 
to  remove  such  smoke,  steam  and  gases.  The  milling  and  clean- 
ing of  castings,  and  milling  of  cupola  cinders,  shall  be  done  under 
such  conditions  to  be  prescribed  by  the  rules  and  regulations  of 
the  industrial  board  as  will  adequately  protect  the  persons  em- 
ployed in  foundries  from  the  dust  arising  during  the  process. 

5.  All  foundries  shall  be  properly  and  thoroughly  lighted  dur- 
ing working  hours  and  in  cold  weather  proper  and  sufficient  heat 
shall  be  provided  and  maintained  therein.     The  use  of  heaters 
discharging  smoke  or  gas  into  workrooms  is  prohibited.     In  all 
foundries  suitable  provision  shall  be  made  and  maintained  for 
drying  the  working  clothes  of  persons  employed  therein. 

6.  In  every  foundry  in  which  ten  or  more  persons  are  em- 
ployed or  engaged  at  labor,  there  shall  be  provided  and  main- 
tained for  the  use  of  employees  therein  suitable  and  convenient 
washrooms  of  sufficient  capacity  adequately  equipped  with  hot 
and  cold  water  service;  such  washrooms  shall  be  kept  clean  and 
sanitary  and  shall  be  properly  heated  during  cold  weather.     In 
every  such  foundry  lockers  shall  be  provided  for  the  safe-keeping 
of  employees'  clothing.     In  every  foundry  in  which  more  than 
ten  persons    are    employed   or   engaged    at    labor   where    water 
closets  or  privy  accommodations  are  permitted  by  the  commis- 
sioner of  labor  to  remain  outside  of  the  factory  under  the  pro- 
visions of  section  eighty-eight  of  this  chapter,  the  passageway 
leading  from  the  foundry  to  the  said  water-closets  or  privy  accom- 
modations shall  be  so  protected  and  constructed  that  the   em- 
ployees in  passing  thereto  or  therefrom  shall  not  be  exposed  to 
outdoor  atmosphere  and  such  water  closets  or  privy  accommoda- 
tions shall  be  properly  heated  during  cold  weather. 

1.  The  flasks,  molding  machines,  ladles,  cranes  and  apparatus 
for  transporting  molten  metal  in  foundries  shall  be  maintained 
in  proper  condition  and  repair,  and  any  such  tools  or  implements' 
that  are  defective  shall  not  be  used  until  properly  repaired.  There 
shall  be  in  every  foundry,  available  for  immediate  use,  an  ample 
supply  of  lime  water,  olive  oil,  vaseline,  bandages  and  absorbent 
cotton,  to  meet  the  needs  of  workmen  in  case  of  burns  or  other 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      391 

accidents;  but  any  other  equally   efficacious  remedy  for  burns 
may  be  substituted  for  those  herein  prescribed. 

§  2.    This  act  shall  take  effect  October  first,  nineteen  hundred, 
and  thirteen. 


BILL  No.  26. 
Ax  ACT 

To  AMEND  THE  LABOR  LAW,  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  PROHIBITION 
OF  THE  EMPLOYMENT  OF  CHILDREN  IN  THE  OPERATION  OF 
DANGEROUS  MACHINERY  AND  IN  TRADES,  OCCUPATIONS  OR 
PROCESSES  OF  MANUFACTURE  DANGEROUS  OR  INJURIOUS  TO 
THEIR  HEALTH  AND  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  PROHIBITION  OF 
THE  EMPLOYMENT  OF  WOMEN  IN  THE  COREROOMS  OF 
FOUNDRIES. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate, 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Section  ninety-three  of  chapter  thirty-six  of  the  laws 
of  nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  entitled  "  An  act  relating  to  labor, 
constituting  chapter  thirty-one  of  the  consolidated  laws,"  as 
amended  by  chapter  one  hundred  and  seven  of  the  laws  of  nine- 
teen hundred  and  ten,  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows : 

§  93.  Prohibited  employment  of  women  and  children.  1.  No 
child  under  the  age  of  sixteen  years  shall  be  employed  or  per- 
mitted to  work  in  operating  or  assisting  in  operating  any  of  the 
following  machines.  Circular  or  band  saws,  woodshapers,  wood- 
jointers,  planers,  sandpaper  or  wood  polishing  macinery;  picker 
machines  or  machines  used  in  picking  wool,  cotton,  hair  or  any 
upholstery  material;  paper  lace  machines;  burnishing  machines 
in  any  tannery  or  leather  manufactory;  job  or  cylinder  printing 
presses  having  motor  power  other  than  foot;  wood-turning  or 
boring  machinery;  drill  presses;  metal  or  paper  cutting  ma- 
chines ;  corner  staying  machines  in  paper  box  factories ;  stamping 
machines  used  in  sheet  metal  and  tinware  manufacturing  or  in 
washer  and  nut  factories;  machines  used  in  making  corrugating 
rolls ;  steam  boilers ;  dough  brakes  or  cracker  machinery  of  any 
description;  wire  or  iron  straightening  machinery;  rolling  mill 


392      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

machinery;  power  punches  or  shears;  washing,  grinding  or  mix- 
ing machinery;  calendar  rolls  in  rubber  manufacturing;  or  laun- 
dering machinery;  or  in  operating  or  assisting  in  operating  any 
other  machines  or  machinery  which  may  be  found  by  the  indus- 
trial board  to  be  dangerous  and  specified  as  such  from  time  to 
time  in  rules  and  regulations  adopted  by  such  board. 

2.  No  child  under  the  age  of  sixteen  years  shall  be  employed 
or  permitted  to  work  at  adjusting  or  assisting  in  adjusting  any 
belt  to  any  machinery,  oiling  or  assisting  in  oiling,  wiping  or 
cleaning  machinery;  or  in  any  capacity  in  preparing  any  com- 
position in  which  dangerous  or  poisonous  acids  are  used;  or  in 
the  manufacture  or  packing  of  paints,  dry  colors,  or  red  or  white 
lead ;  or  dipping  or  dyeing  [or  packing]  matches ;  or  in  the  manu- 
facture, packing  or  storing  of  powder,  dynamite,  nitroglycerine, 
compounds,  fuses,  or  other  explosives;  or  in  or  about  any  distil- 
lery, brewery,  or  any  other  establishment  where  malt  or  alcoholic 
liquors  are  manufactured,  packed,  wrapped,  or  bottled;  and  no 
female  under  the  age  of  sixteen  shall  be  employed  or  permitted 
to  work  in  any  capacity  where  such  employment  compels  her  to 
remain  standing  constantly.  "No  child  under  the  age  of  sixteen 
years  shall  be  employed  or  permitted  to  have  the  care,  custody  or 
management  of  or  to  operate  an  elevator  either  for  freight  or 
passengers.  No  person  under  the  age  of  eighteen  years  shall  be 
employed  or  permitted  to  have  the  care,  custody  or  management 
of  or  to  operate  an  elevator  either  for  freight  or  passengers  run- 
ning at  a  speed  of  over  two  hundred  feet  a  minute.  No  male 
persons  under  eighteen  years  or  woman  under  twenty-one  years 
of  age  shall  be  permitted  or  directed  to  clean  machinery  while 
in  motion.  No  male  child  under  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  nor 
any  female,  shall  be  employed  in  any  factory  in  this  state  in 
operating  or  using  any  emery,  tripoli,  rouge,  corundum,  stone, 
carborundum  or  any  abrasive,  or  emery  polishing  or  buffing 
wheel,  where  articles  of  the  baser  metals  or  of  iridium  are 
manufactured. 

5.  In  addition  to  the  cases  provided  for  in  the  foregoing  sub- 
division, the  industrial  board,  when  as  a  result  of  its  investiga- 
tions it  finds  that  any  particular  trade,  process  of  manufacture, 
or  occupation,  or  particular  method  of  carrying  on  any  trade, 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      393 

process  of  manufacture,  or  occupation,  is  dangerous  or  injurious 
to  the  health  of  minors  under  eighteen  years  of  age  employed 
therein,  shall  have  power  to  adopt  rules  and  regulations  prohibit- 
ing or  regulating  the  employment  of  such  minors  therein. 

4-  No  female  shall  be  employed  or  permitted  to  work  in  any 
brass,  iron  or  steel  foundry,  at  or  in  connection  with  the  making 
of  cores  where  the  oven  in  which  the  cores  are  baked  is  located 
and  is  in  operation  in  the  same  room  or  space  in  which  the  cores 
are  made.  The  erection  of  a  partition  separating  the  oven  from 
the  space  where  the  cores  are  made  shall  not  be  sufficient  unless 
the  said  partition  extends  from  the  floor  to  the  ceiling,  and  the 
partition  is  so  constructed  and  arranged,  and  any  openings  therein 
so  protected  that  the  gases  and  fumes  from  the  core  oven  will  not 
enter  the  room  or  space  in  which  the  women  are  employed.  The 
industrial  board  shall  have  power  to  adopt  rules  and  regulations 
regulating  the  construction,  equipment,  maintenance  and  operation 
of  core  rooms  and  the  size  and  weight  of  cores  that  may  be  handled 
by  women,  so  as  to  protect  the  health  and  safety  of  women  em- 
ployed in  core  rooms. 

§  2.  This  act  shall  take  effect  October  first,  nineteen  hundred 
and  thirteen. 


BILL  No.  27. 
AN  ACT 

To  AMEND  THE  PUBLIC  HEALTH  LAW,  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  SALE 
OF  WOOD  ALCOHOL. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Chapter  forty-one  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred 
and  nine,  entitled  "An  act  in  relation  to  the  public  health,  consti- 
tuting chapter  forty-five  of  the  consolidated  laws,"  is  hereby 
amended  by  inserting  therein,  after  section  three  hundred  and 
eighteen-a,  a  new  section,  to  be  section  three  hundred  and  eigh- 
teen-b,  to  read  as  follows: 

§  318-&.  Sale  of  wood  alcohol.  No  person  shall  sell  any  wood 
alcohol  nor  any  fluid  containing  wood  alcohol  unless  the  bottle, 


394      APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE. 

vessel  or  other  container  in  which  the  same  is  sold  or  transported 
shall  bear  a  label  containing  the  following  words  conspicuously 
printed  in  red  ink: 

POISON 

WOOD  ALCOHOL 

Do  not  use  except  where  there  is  sufficient 
ventilation. 

§  2.    This  act  shall  take  effect  October  first,  nineteen  hundred 
and  thirteen. 


BILL  No.  28. 

AN  ACT 

To  CONTINUE  THE  COMMISSION  CREATED  BY  CHAPTER  FIVE  HUN- 
DRED AND  SIXTY-ONE  OF  THE  LAWS  OF  NINETEEN  HUNDRED 
AND  ELEVEN,  ENTITLED  "AN  ACT  TO  CREATE  A  COMMISSION 
TO  INVESTIGATE  THE  CONDITIONS  UNDER  WHICH  MANUFAC- 
TURE is  CARRIED  ON  IN  CITIES  OF  THE  FIRST  AND  SECOND 
CLASS  IN  THIS  STATE,  AND  MAKING  AN  APPROPRIATION 
THEREFOR,"  AND  TO  ENLARGE  THE  SCOPE  OF  THE  INVESTI- 
GATION OF  THE  COMMISSION  AND  MAKING  AN  APPROPRIATION 
THEEEFOR. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows  : 

Section  1.  The  commission  created  by  chapter  five  hundred  and 
sixty-one  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred  and  eleven,  entitled  "An 
act  to  create  a  commission  to  investigate  the  conditions  under 
which  manufacture  is  carried  on  in  cities  of  the  first  and  second 
class  in  this  state,  and  making  an  appropriation  therefor,"  is 
hereby  continued  with  all  the  powers  conferred  by  said  chapter,  as 
amended  by  chapter  twenty-one  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred 
and  twelve. 

§  2.  In  addition  to  the  powers  heretofore  conferred  upon  it  by 
such  chapter,  as  amended,  the  said  commission  shall  have  power  to 
inquire  into  the  wages  of  labor  in  all  industries  and  employments 


APPENDIX  I  —  BILLS  SUBMITTED  TO  LEGISLATURE.      395 

and  the  conditions  under  which  labor  is  carried  on  throughout 
the  state,  and  into  the  advisability  of  fixing  minimum  rates  of 
wages  or  of  other  legislation  relating  to  the  wages  or  conditions  of 
labor  in  general  or  in  any  industry.  Said  commission  shall  also 
have  power  to  subpoena  and  require  the  attendance  of  witnesses 
and  the  production  of  books  and  papers  pertaining  to  the  investi- 
gation and  inquiries  hereby  authorized  and  to  take  the  testimony 
of  all  such  witnesses  and  to  examine  all  such  books  and  papers 
in  relation  to  any  matter  which  it  has  power  to  investigate. 

§  3.  The  said  commission  shall  make  a  report  of  its  proceed- 
ings, together  with  its  recommendations,  including  a  revision  of 
the  labor  law,  to  be  prepared  by  the  said  commission  if  deemed 
advisable  by  it,  to  the  legislature  on  or  before  the  fifteenth  day 
of  February,  nineteen  hundred  and  fourteen. 

4.  The  sum  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  ($50,000),  or  so  much 
thereof  as  may  be  needed,  is  hereby  appropriated  for  the  actual 
and  necessary  expenses  of  the  commission  in  carrying  out  the  pro- 
visions of  chapter  five  hundred  and  sixty-one  of  the  laws  of  nine- 
teen hundred  and  eleven,  as  amended,  and  of  this  act,  payable  by 
the  treasurer  on  the  warrant  of  the  comptroller  on  the  order  of  the 
chairman  of  said  commission. 

§  5.   This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately. 


INDEX  TO  COMMISSION'S  REPORT. 


PAGE. 

Accidents  in  Chemical  Industries 248 

Accident   Prevention    235-243 

Education  of  Employer  and  Employee  for 242 

Enforcement   of    Law   for 241 

Industrial  Board  to  Make  Rules  for 238 

Report  on    235-243 

Acids,  Commercial   247 

Ages  of  Children  in  Canneries 132 

Assistance  Rendered  Commission,  Appreciation  of , 21 

Authority  of   Commission 12 

Automatic  Sprinklers 68-72,  88 

Average  Hours  no  Measure   of  Fatigue 158 

Bakeries 216-226 

Additional  Minimum  Requirements  for 224 

Cellar 221 

Extent  of  the  Industry 217 

General  Conditions  in 216 

Physical  Examination  of  Workers  in 220 

Present  Jurisdiction  over 217 

Prohibition   of  New  Celrlar 223 

Proposed  Change  in  Jurisdiction  over 218 

Sanitary  Certificate  for 218 

Sanitary  Code  for 225 

Bureaus  of  Labor  Department 38 

Canneries 124-175 

Housing  Conditions  in 175 

Sanitary    Conditions    in 174 

Special   Inspection    of 174 

Laws  in  other  States,  Governing 142,  169 

Season   in    152 

Sheds    of    130 

Work  Essentially   Factory  Work   in 152 

Investigation  of  Commission  into 126 

Carelessness  of  Manufacturers  in  Giving  Out  Home  Work 101 

Chemical  Industry    245 

Child  Labor  at  Dangerous  Machinery 183 

Child  Labor   in   Canneries 127-143 

Findings 141 

Recommendation  of  Commission  on 142 

Child   Labor    176-192 

Educational    Requirement    for 177 

Physical  Requirement   for 176 

Prohibition    of,   in   Tenements 1 19 


ii  INDEX 

PAGE. 

Child  Labor  Law,  Jurisdiction  for  Violation  of 185 

Enforcement   of    186 

Child  Labor  Law  not  Applied  to  Canneries 128 

Children  Forced  to  Work  in  Canneries 135 

Commercial  Acids    247 

Commission,  Creation   of 11 

Congestion,   Prevention    of 88 

Continuation  Schools    190 

Converted  Dwellings  or  Tenements 58 

Dangerous  Trades,  Educational  Work  in 254 

Industrial  Board  to  Make  Rules  for 252 

Report    on    244-254 

Ventilation,  special 252 

Danger  to  Life  in  Fireproof  Buildings 62 

Department  Stores  266-290 

Conditions  of  Work  in 267 

Hours  of  Work  in  (Including  Night  Hours) 270 

Number  and  Per  Cent  of  Women  and  Children  in 265 

Organization  of  266 

Wages,  in 282 

Doors,  Opening  Outward 75 

Dressing  Rooms  in  Factories 234 

Dusty  Processes  in  Industry 246 

Earnings  of  Home  Workers 109 

Economic  Status  of  Home  Workers'  Families Ill 

Elevators  239 

Employment  Certificates  for  Children 179 

Employment  of  Young  Children  in  Canneries 127-143 

Examinations  f 01    Enspectors 49 

Exemption  from  Factory  Law,  Claim  of  Canners  to 126 

Exits   in  Existing  Buildings 72 

Exit   Signs    81 

Factory  Inspection,  inadequacy  of  the  Present  System  of 27 

Fire  Hazard  in  Factories 58-8 ) 

Automatic  Sprinklers 68 

Fire-Alarm  Signal  Systems 66 

Fire  Drills 67 

Fire-Escapes,  Stairways  and  Exits  —  Existing  Buildings 72 

Fire  Losses  —  American  and  European 54 

Fire  Problem  in  New  York  City 58 

Fire  Problem  in  Other  Cities  of  the  State 64 

Fireproof  Buildings,  Danger  to  Life 62 

Future   Factory    Buildings —  Construction  of 76 

Limitation  of  Number  of  Occupants 83 

Loft  Buildings 59 

Prevention  of  Congestion 88 

Prevention  of  Fire 65 


IXDEX  iii 

PAGE. 

Food  Products,  Prohibition  of  Manufacture  in  Tenements  of 120 

Foundries,  Heating  of 257 

Measures  to  Prevent  Accidents  in 258 

Prevention  of  Drafts  in 257 

Proper  ventilation  in 257 

Report  on   255-263 

Washing  Facilities   in 258 

Foundry  no  Place  for  Women 261 

Home  Work,  Communities  in  Which  It  Is  Found 94 

Industries   Giving   92 

Home  Work  Inspection,  Division   of 122 

Home  Work  in  Tenements,  Remedies  Advocated  for Ill 

Home  Work,  Sanitary  Conditions  of 95 

Home  Work  System,  Unrestricted  Hours  of  Labor  for  Women  in 108 

Home  Workers'  Families,  Economic  Status  of Ill 

Hours  of  Labor  of  Children  in  Canneries 134 

House  Work   of  Women  Employed  in  Canneries 1 58 

Individual  Responsibility  for  Fires 56 

Industrial  Board,  Recommended 31 

Organization  of   31 

Meetings  of 31 

Powers  of   32 

Procedure  of    33 

Industrial  Code   33 

Industrial  Hygiene,   Division   of 43 

Infants'  Wear,  Prohibition  of  Manufacture  in  Tenements  of 120 

Investigations 14 

Conditions  in  Canneries 15 

Dangerous  Trades  16 

General   Sanitary   Conditions » 14 

Manufacturing  in  Tenement  Houses 15 

Mercantile   Establishments    18 

Night  Work  of  Women  in  Factories 16 

The  Fire  Problem 15 

The   Printing  Industry 16 

The  Tobacco  Industry 16 

Labeling  of  Containers  of  Wood  Alcohol 254 

Labor,  Department  of 26 

Bureaus  of   38 

Counsel   to    48 

Filing  Construction  Plans  with 89 

Importance  of    26 

Organization  of   37 

Labor  Law  and  Its  Administration 26-52 

The  Present    28 

Penalties  for  Violation  of 50 

Law  Regulating  Tenement  House  Manufacture.  Amendments  Proposed 

to  .  121 


iv  INDEX 

PAGE. 

Lead  Poisoning    24S 

Legislative  Powers,  Delegation  of 33 

Light  and  Illumination  in  Factories 229 

Lighting  of  Moving  Parts  of  Machinery 238 

Lighting,  of  Passageways 238 

Limitation  of  Number  of  Occupants  in  Factories 83-88 

Manufacturing  in  Tenements 90-123 

Previous  Legislation  on 90 

Recommendations  for  Regulation  of 1 16 

Sources  of  Information  on 91 

Medical  Inspection  of  Department  of  Labor,  Section  of 45 

Members  of  Commission 11 

Mercantile  Establishments,  Report  on  Women  and  Children  in 264-290 

Mercantile  Inspection,  Division  of 41 

Methods  of  Inspection 49 

Milling  and  Cleaning  of  Castings 259 

Miscellaneous   Reports    17 

Night  Work  of  Women 193-215 

Constitutionality  of  Proposed  Bill  Regulating 203 

Dangers  to  Health  from 193 

Danger  to  Morals  from 202 

The  Proposed  Law  on 203 

New  Buildings,  Requirements  for  Construction  of 76-80 

Doors  and  Doorways 80 

Enclosure  of  Stairways  and  Elevator  Shafts  and  Vertical  Openings.  79 

Floor  Area  and  Required  Exits 77 

Partitions 80 

Roofs  and  Cornices 77 

Smoke-proof  Towers   78 

Stairways,  Construction  of 78 

Winders 79 

Non-fireproof  Loft   59 

Occupations  of  Children  Dangerous  to  Health 182 

Offices  for  the  Department  of  Labor 50 

Organization  of  Commission 13 

Outside  Fire-escapes,  Inadequacy  of 73 

Overtime  Evening  Work,  Danger  to  Health  of  Women  from 198 

Overtime  Work  in  Canneries,  the  Necessity  of 159 

Passageways  to  Outside  Water  Closets 259 

Pensions  for  Inspectors 48 

Physical  Examination  of  Children  in  Factories 180 

Policy  of  Commission 22 

Posting  of  Abstracts  of  the  Labor  Law 50 

Prevention  of  Fire 65 

Publication  of  Reports  of  Department  of  Labor 48 

Reasonable  Hours  in  Some  Canneries 164 

Report  on  Canneries 124-175 

Report  on  Child  Labor 176-192 


INDEX  v 

PAGE. 

Report  on  Night  Work  of  Women  in  Factories,  Summary  of 212 

Recommendations,  Miscellaneous,  for  Department  of  Labor 48 

Rush  Periods  in  Cannery  Work 153 

Safeguarding  of  Machinery,  Proposed  Changes  in  Law  for 237 

Salary  of  Commissioner  of  Labor 38 

Sanitary  Conditions,  Report  on  General 227-234 

Scope   of  Commission 12 

Scope  of  Commission's  Investigation  of  Fire  Problem 57 

Second  Class  Cities,  Mercantile  Inspection  in 42 

Special  Inspection  of  Canneries 174 

Stairhalls,  Enclosed    ' 85 

Stairways,  Enclosed    74,  79 

Capacity  in  Existing  Buildings 84 

Capacity  in   Future  Buildings 85 

Limitation  of  Number  of  Occupants  According  to  Capacity  of 84 

Stairways  to  the  Roof 74 

Temperature  in  Chemical  Industries 247 

Tenement     House     Manufacture,      Proposed     Amendments     of      Law 

Regulating 116 

Tenement  Manufacture,  Child  Labor  in 103 

Tentative  Bills,  Special  Hearings 19 

Unclean  Workrooms  in  Factories 229 

Vats,  Covering  of 253 

Ventilation  in  Factories 230 

Wages  and  Restriction  of  Hours  in  Canneries 164 

Washing  Facilities  in  Factories 230 

Water  Closet  Accommodation  in  Factories 231 

Women  in  Core  Rooms,  Report  on 260-26  3 

Women's  Work  Generally,  Hours  of  Labor 215 

Women's  Work  in  Canneries 143-174 

Hours  of  Labor  of 154 

Recommendations  for  Regulation  of 173 

Varieties  of    145 

Wood  Alcohol 249 

Work  of  Commission  in  1911 13 

Work  of  Commission  since  March  6,  1912 14 

Workmen's  Compensation  Law 242 


26 


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